Amid dwindling state support, the Cal State University Board of Trustees approved a 12 percent, or $584, tuition increase Tuesday morning, bringing annual tuition up to $5,472 not including system-wide mandatory campus fees.
As a result, Cal State Long Beach students can expect to pay at least $6,042 in tuition for the upcoming academic year.
The 12 percent hike comes in wake of a $650 million budget reduction and will represent the fourth of its kind in only two years.
The Board already approved two separate tuition increases last November — 5 percent for the spring 2011 semester and 10 percent for the upcoming fall semester.
“The enormous reduction to our state funding has left us with no other choice if we are to maintain quality and access to the CSU,” said CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed in a statement.
“We will focus on serving our current students by offering as many classes and course sections as possible.”
Reed also said that 23-campus system would open enrollment for the spring 2012 semester, something he called “critical for community college transfer students.”
While the Board lamented the tuition increase, it argued that it was necessary, approving the hike with only one audible vote against.