A resolution in support of granting students an 11-month warning for tuition increases was passed by the Associated Students Inc. Senate Nov. 30.
Assembly Bill 970, also known as the Working Family Student Fee Transparency and Accountability Act, authored by Assembly Member Paul Fong and the California State Student Association, attempts to give students a period of time to financially adjust to tuition increases.
ASI’s resolution in support of the legislation will be sent to the California State University Chancellor’s office, assembly members and Gov. Jerry Brown in the hopes of promoting AB-970 to the California Legislature in Sacramento.
According to Michael Quibuyen, ASI treasurer and CSSA vice president of university affairs, the assembly bill is currently sitting in a hold file in the legislature’s budget committee and not being discussed.
“We’re waiting for all of the other [CSU] campuses to pass their own similar resolutions so that we have more ammunition to use in Sacramento,” Quibuyen said. “If enough students oppose it – which is 412,000 hopefully – then that should be enough to hopefully bring it out of hold and back into a more active state.”
The Chancellor’s office is opposed to AB-970. They claim that asking for a budgetary prediction of 11 months into the future is unrealistic, Quibuyen said.
California legislators decide what programs to cut based on evaluating Gov. Jerry Brown’s state budget in advance, Quibuyen said.
However, CSSA has already established their support of the bill and will continue lobbying for a tuition increase warning period next spring.
According to Quibuyen, the Assembly Bill was drafted partially as a response to a class action lawsuit against the University of California system. Students sued the university because it raised tuition after tuition rates had already been announced.
“The CSU can be sued for the same exact reason,” Quibuyen said. “What AB970 does is, you know… it could help the system not get sued by students who want their money back.”
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