The Cal State University system may raise spring tuition by 5 percent and 2011-12 tuition by an additional 10 percent in a meeting that begins Tuesday.
This comes after increased funding from state and federal levels to the CSU.
California’s 2010-11 budget partially restored funding to the CSU. The CSU also received a third allocation of one-time funding from the federal stimulus program of $106 million.
However, the state’s 2010-11 budget stipulated that the CSU enroll about 30,000 additional students. A CSU report also stated that the CSU’s use of the one-time federal stimulus funds introduced “an element of great risk.”
The CSU had lost $625 million in annual state funding since 2007-08, according to the CSU’s “Mid-year Tuition Increase” report. It also had to “absorb” $135 million in mandatory cost increases.
Reason for 5 percent increase for spring
When the CSU passed its budget for 2010-11, it was faced with raising tuition by 10 percent.
However, according to CSU media relations specialist Erik Fallis, the state Assembly said it would cover half of that increase. As a result, the CSU only raised tuition by 5 percent for fall 2010.
Yet the final state budget didn’t include funding for the other 5 percent. The CSU knew that the state Assembly’s proposal wasn’t guaranteed and had planned to discuss this issue in November because of that, Fallis said.
Reason for 10 percent increase for 2011-12
While the state’s current budget partially restored CSU funding, it also required the CSU to increase enrollment by about 30,000 students.
“It’s the state budget that included an enrollment target and a penalty if the CSU did not meet the enrollment target,” Fallis said.
He added that it’s not abnormal for the CSU to have an enrollment target as part of a state budget.
Fallis said that state resources and the allocation of federal stimulus dollars would allow the CSU to increase enrollment to that target. However, the federal stimulus funds are one-time.
“Unless the state government is able to replace those [federal] funds, then that means that the CSU would not have the funding to support those additional 30,000 students,” Fallis said.
Referring to the CSU report’s “element of great risk,” Fallis said that if the CSU admits students based on one-time funds, it risks the quality of education for those additional students in the future if those funds go away.
Fallis said, “A big part of the increase next year is tied to those one-time funds.”
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