The regents of the University of California approved an eight percent hike in undergraduate student fees yesterday, as expected. The tally was 10-5, with student regent Jesse Cheng and California’s Lieutenant Governor among those voting in opposition.

Yesterday’s hike is the fourth in three years at the university, and it brings total fees to more than $12,000 — a 224% increase over the last decade. Just one regent voted in opposition to last year’s fee increase.

Also on the regents’ agenda yesterday were the approval of a number of new administrative hires. One of those, a vice chancellor at UC Davis, is slated to receive an annual salary of $370,000 — a $142,600 increase over that of his or her immediate predecessor in the position. In addition, this hire will receive a signing bonus of some $111,000.

Update | One more thing I forgot to mention — the regents also formally changed the name of UC’s primary “fee” to “tuition,” abandoning the longstanding but increasingly preposterous fiction that UC is tuition-free.