Proposed CSU tuition hikes anger students
Decision on the increase won’t come for two months
California State University students may see their second consecutive tuition increase next year, but any decision on the $288 tuition increase question won’t come for another two months.
The prospect of a delay, however, didn’t stop some students and faculty members from showing up at CSU headquarters in Long Beach on Tuesday in order to speak against the proposed increase, at times breaking into chants during the course of the Cal State University board of trustees meeting.
“No hikes. No fees. Education should be free,” rang the words of one chant coming from a group of about 20 students in the audience.
Base tuition for the CSU is $5,742 per year. Individual campuses charge varying amounts of fees, which can run into the thousands.
The 23-campus CSU appears to be in a similar situation to that of one year ago when its board of trustees approved the first tuition increase since the 2011-12 school year. The decision added $270 to the price of a resident undergraduate’s tuition bill, and CSU administrators justified the tuition increase as being necessary to pay for a wide-reaching plan to improve four-year graduation rates, employee compensation and other costs.
Trustees on Tuesday seemed more reluctant to sign off on a tuition increase than they were last March, when they did so by an 11-to-8 vote. Any decision on a tuition hike for the CSU won’t come before May, and one trustee expressed frustration that CSU budget administrators had framed their coming decision as being a choice between tuition hikes or preserving the university system’s year-old graduation initiative.
“It seems like we’re being provided a very narrow option,” CSU trustee Douglas Faigin said Tuesday while CSU leaders discussed their year’s budget issues.
Other trustees joined Faigin in asking for more information on how potential budget cuts, even those that may lead to reduced enrollment or financial aid options, may affect the CSU’s budget.
Trustee Rebecca Eisen offered another sign of reluctance to raise tuition, saying during the meeting that she would be interested in seeing data related to a potential tuition increase for nonresident students, but not for California residents.
Faigin went on to suggest the CSU’s budget team look for ways to package several relatively small budget cuts that may, combined, result in significant spending reductions or alternative revenue streams such as selling on-campus space for “tasteful advertising” in order to make the CSU less reliant upon state government or its own student body for funding.
CSU leaders’ focus on their graduation initiative follows a decision made in 2016 to commit to improving four-year graduation rates. Offering greater numbers of classes and giving students better advice to plan their progress through university life are among key elements of that plan.
The CSU has already committed some $88 million, $75 million of which came from the last tuition hike, to its graduation rate initiative, Executive Vice Chancellor Loren Blanchard said during Tuesday’s meeting.
Those dollars include $46 million to hire nearly 400 tenure-track faculty members and $18 million for 228 new academic advisors, he said. Hiring new faculty created some 90,000 openings across the breadth of CSU’s course offerings.
Trustees are asking for an additional $75 million for investments related to the university system’s graduation initiative. The CSU’s budget request also seeks $122 million for compensation increases and nearly $40 million for enrollment growth.
The CSU’s total funding request adds up to roughly $6.8 billion, an amount that would require nearly $283 million in additional funding from state government. The governor’s January budget proposal offers a $92 million increase, according to CSU numbers, a figure that would leave the CSU millions short of its full request.
Besides protesting a possible tuition hike, members of the California Faculty Association and the allied Students for Quality Education asked trustees to join them for a planned April 4 trip to Sacramento to demand more state funding for CSU.
“This is not what you should be advocating for,” said Cal State Long Beach student Courtney Yamagiwa, referring to the tuition hike. “You should be advocating for more state funding.”