Students of the California public higher education system may be facing yet another fee increase.
The seemingly constant increase in tuition and other fees has sparked a student movement for an initiative on the November 2008 ballot that would freeze tuition prices for University of California and California State Universities for five years. After that tuition would increase based on inflation.
The initiative would also establish a tax of one percent on households with an income exceeding $1 million annually to increase revenue for the CSU and UC. A board of students and parents would be created to monitor how CSU and UC are using the new income.
Cal State Long Beach students seem to have similar sentiments toward the fee increase, but feelings on the initiative are mixed.
Brandon Toma, a senior electrical engineering senior, doesn’t like the idea of a fee increase.
“A lot of my friends have to pay their own tuition,” Toma said, “and it’s already [too much] with rent.” As for the tax initiative, Toma found it pointless.
“There’s such a small percentage of people who make that much money,” Toma said. “I don’t think it will have an effect.”
Sophomore Cassi Nie, who is studying communicative disorders, was not at all supportive of the tax initiative.
“I don’t agree with that,” Nie said. “If you didn’t go to college and you make over $1 million a year, it’s not your responsibility to fund college.”
In reference to the fee increase Nie said, “It’s lame, but I have to go to school somehow, so I guess you just get thrown in to paying for it.”
Junior English education major Shannon Davis recalled what tuition prices were like just a few years ago.
“In 2001, when I started here, tuition was $892 a semester,” Davis said. “I could actually pay for it myself then. Now I work full time and my parents still have to help me out.”
Matthew Baldwin, a senior communications major, also spoke out against another tuition increase.
“I’m not fan of the student tuition increase,” Baldwin said. “The initial purpose of the Cal State system was to provide a free education for students. It has strayed so much from that. It’s pitiful.”
Kathryn Ouaknine, a junior business management said, commented on the fee increase and executive raises.
“We look at our tuition and expect it to stay the same for as long as we’re here,” Ouaknine said. “Seeing executives get raises, while I’m struggling to pay tuition that pays for their raises, isn’t favorable to anyone.”
