A group of California State University students carried out a protest Tuesday as the CSU Board of Trustees reviewed a financial report that includes the possibility of a roughly 5 percent tuition increase.
Although the board did not take any action on a tuition hike, the issue was discussed as part of a presentation on the CSU system’s 2017-18 Support Budget Request to the state.
The possibility of a tuition hike was first raised by the CSU in September, prompting meetings with the California State Student Association and other affected groups.
According to a staff report prepared by CSU Chief Financial Officer Steve Relyea and Assistant Vice Chancellor Ryan Storm, a potential 5 percent tuition hike would bump in-state undergraduate tuition from $5,472 a year to $5,742, generating up to $77.5 million in revenue systemwide.
“Coupled with similar proposed maximum increases to non-resident tuition, as well as graduate, doctoral and teacher-credential programs, the potential increase would generate new revenue in 2017-2018 to partially support the board’s priorities,” according to the report.
The report notes that CSU officials’ highest priority will be to advocate for increased state funding to overcome an anticipated $167.6 million shortfall. However, the actual amount of the state’s funding allocation to the CSU won’t be known until June 2017.
Members of a group known as Students for Quality Education gathered outside the Chancellor’s Office beginning about 6 a.m. The group contends that while tuition has been frozen for four years, the cost of attending CSU increased by 283 percent between 2002 and 2012.
About a dozen students, some dressed like zombies, held what they called a “Walking Debt” protest, complete with headstones featuring the names of each of the CSU campuses. Inside the board meeting, students condemned even the possibility of a tuition hike.
“You keep reaching into our pockets, and we’re suffering,” one student told the board. “Every time you all come up with these crazy concepts and you want to dig into our pockets, like, I feel less and less valued. I feel like a dollar to all of you.”
The board unanimously approved the Support Budget Request. Toni Molle of the CSU stressed that the university’s “first and highest priority” to meet its funding requirements is to “advocate in Sacramento for increased state funding.”
“CSU leaders, students and stakeholders will work with the governor and state legislative leaders to advocate for increased funding for the CSU to ensure that the university has the resources needed to continue to provide affordable, high-quality degrees to California students,” Molle said.
—City News Service