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.
This decision will mark the fourth rise in school fees since 2009, totaling an 80 percent increase.
As a result, Cal State Long Beach students can expect to pay at least $6,042 in tuition for the upcoming academic year.
“We are truly disappointed,” said Dalia Hernandez, a senior geography major at CSULB. “We have taken the action of going to speak to the legislators, but it just bounces back to us.”
Hernandez was one of several speakers who voiced a concern about the well-being of undocumented students who have been ineligible for financial aid.
Kimberly King, associate professor of psychology at Cal State Los Angeles, also spoke on behalf of these students.
“The students who are paying are going to be paying more and getting less,” King said. “With this … increase, undocumented students will have to find [money] or they won’t be able to go to school.”
Board of Trustees Chairman Herbert Carter said that he supported undocumented students but helplessly bound by the law.
“It’s not that we are unsympathetic [toward undocumented students], but until we get the law changed there’s nothing we can do,” Carter said.
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom argued that it is actually middle income students, not low income ones, who are being left out. He referred to the state’s treatment of middle class students as “the biggest threat to democracy.”
“I’m dumbfounded by the lack of conversations across the state,” Newsom said. “We’ve done a terrible job. We’ve got to get our act together in this state in terms of educating people on economy.”
King also pointed out that San Francisco State University had the highest tuition increases but was the same university that just awarded its president a $400,000 salary.
Assistant Vice Chancellor Robert Turnage gave a presentation to illustrate the gravity of the budget cuts.
“We have to remember how massive the state fiscal problem we’re dealing with is,” Turnage said, addressing the possibility of another massive cut appearing in a matter of months.
He also questioned the relevance of estimating the damage to the CSU system, referring to a previous state estimate as “aggressively optimistic.”
The presentation showed that CSU student enrollment had increased from 273,000 to 331,000 during the last 13 years, while state funding plunged from $10,900 to $6,400 thousand per student. In addition, average tuition rates rose from $2,500 thousand to $5,500 thousand during the same time span.
“This is a massive decline over time in revenues per student,” Turnage said. “We’ve had a very sharp plunge in overall support, even with a proposed new increase in tuition, we’re sliding again.”
To illustrate how desperate the situation has been, Turnage brought up a scenario from last May, in which the Board of Trustees considered the very serious possibility of closing school admissions to all transfer students.
“We’re pushing ourselves to the limit in terms of what’s tolerable,” Turnage said. “We’ve really been considering every option.”
Board of Trustees member Melinda Guzman agreed that the CSU system is running out of viable choices and that it has become increasingly difficult to make desirable decisions.
“I have consistently voted ‘no’ to fee increases, but this time it’s clear that the focus is keeping the doors open,” Guzman said. “It’s unreasonable. I would urge us to explore every alternative possible.”
“As bad as they can be, we can make the best choices of the bad choices,” said Steven Glazer, another member of the Board of Trustees.
The motion to raise CSU tuition by 12 percent passed in a voice vote, with only two audible votes against. Students were outraged by the result, chanting “shame on you” to the Board from outside the building after the motion was approved.
“I’m really disappointed,” Hernandez said. “It’s really hard for me to get the classes I need. For next semester, I’ll have to enroll part time because of the fee increase.”
Senior women’s gender and sexuality major Lizeth Zepeda found herself unable to justify the logic behind the decision to raise tuition again.
“I cannot sympathize with where they’re coming from at all,” Zepeda said. “We’re getting less and less every semester while their pay is still ridiculously high. They need to look at their priorities.”
If hopeful state revenue estimates don’t come through, the CSU system may face an additional $100 million “trigger” cut.
The state is operating under the assumption that it will receive $4 billion in additional revenue, and has strategized accordingly.
If it falls short of this estimate and receives between two or three billion instead, the trigger will have to be pulled.
“It will possibly be December before we know whether or not that trigger will be pulled,” Fallis said. “It will be massively difficult to handle because of the short notice and all of the other cuts we’ve had to take.”
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