By snoadmin
The California State University Board of Trustees approved a proposed $276 per semester undergraduate student fee increase for the 2008-09 school year on Wednesday during its meeting in the CSU system’s downtown Long Beach offices.
Though Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s revised budget had not yet been received at the time of the decision, the board voted 15 to 3 in favor of a 10 percent increase with the idea that it would be the only way to offset inevitable cuts. Also, beginning in fall 2008, teacher credential student fees will increase by $324 and graduate student fees will go up to $342.
The CSU undergraduate fee will go up from approximately $2,772 to $3,048 per year.
According to members of the board, the increase will raise $37 million for financial aid grants, and low-income students will not be affected by the rise in tuition other than receiving more aid as a result.
“I have mixed feelings about today’s actions,” said CSULB President F. King Alexander. “Even though we did increase fees, I know we will continue to be the most affordable institution in the United States.
“But at the same time we’ve got to get the federal government turned around so that they reward universities and states that promote affordability, instead of doing the opposite … We’ve got a fist fight that’s not only in Sacramento, but it’s also in Washington, D.C.”
Currently, 47 percent of CSU students are receiving need-based financial aid. The increase will also assure that the CSU system will maintain 6,520 course sections.
Later Wednesday, Schwarzenegger made public his revision to the proposed budget. He reduced the proposed cuts from $386 million to $288 million.
Despite these reassurances, many trustees feared the negative consequences that would arise. Statistics from the Office of the Chancellor showed an 81 percent increase in undergraduate fees over the last decade. The rates at which fees have been increasing are higher than the current inflation rate. Lt. Gov. John Garamendi pointed out that a $276 increase is equal to 35 more hours of work for a student earning eight dollars an hour.
“What we’re doing is substituting a tax on the collective state with a tax on students,” Garamendi said.
Garamendi went on to comment on the pressure that needs to be put on the state legislature to start taxing the entire state to increase funding for education. He proposed a resolution to continue postponing the fee increase, and also suggested subsequent increases should not exceed the inflation rate.
Board member Melinda Guzman attached her own resolution to Garamendi’s. Guzman proposed the development of a committee that will try to find alternative sources of revenue for the CSU system.
Both resolutions from Garamendi and Guzman were rejected.
Board member Herbert Carter argued that a large amount of funding has gone toward research for alternative funding and that a committee was not needed.
Garamendi and other board members later posed their fears that the CSU will be forced to give priority to out-of-state students.
In a presentation by Richard P. West, executive vice chancellor and chief financial officer of the CSU system, he mentioned when the state universities of Michigan, Ohio and other states faced similar budget cuts. They began admitting more out-of-state students to increase revenues for the school. Currently, 38 percent of University of Michigan students are from out-of-state while the CSU system is at four percent. He concluded that if the CSU schools were to raise their percentages to that of the University of Michigan, 160,000 California students would not be admitted.
