Along with passing a state budget this weekend, California lawmakers approved legislation to slash student fees by up to 40 percent for some middle-income Cal State University students.
The legislation — the Middle Class Scholarship Act — has been added to the $96.3-billion state budget, which continues to propose $250 million in additional state funding for each the CSU and University of California systems.
Additionally, a proposed four-year tuition freeze and Gov. Jerry Brown’s accountability plan — which would have tied state funding for the university systems to accountability measures prescribed by Brown — were cut from the budget.
Brown’s plan would have required the CSU and UC systems to meet certain measures, such as improving four-year graduation rates and increasing the number of transfer students from community colleges, in order to receive state funding. The systems would have received funding only if they met the requirements.
But CSU officials, including Cal State Long Beach President F. King Alexander, protested the accountability plan, saying it didn’t suit the mission of the CSU.
“The issue is, how do we measure accountability?” CSU Spokesman Erik Fallis said.
Rather than include Brown’s four-year plan, the state budget now requires the CSU and UC to track statistics — including graduation rates and the number of students pursuing degrees in science, engineering, technology and math — and report the information to the California Legislature, according to Fallis.
Still, Fallis said Brown’s accountability measures aren’t completely off the table, as the CSU will continue to discuss them with the Legislature in the future.
“The accountability measures were more about the long-term plan that the governor had for investing in higher education,” Fallis said.
The Legislature also added to the state budget the Middle Class Scholarship Act, written by Assembly Speaker John Perez (D-Los Angeles). The legislation aims to cut student fees for CSU and UC students by up to 40 percent for families earning less than $100,000 a year and 10 percent for families earning less than $150,000 a year, according to Elizabeth Stitt, senior press aide at Perez’s office.
“Skyrocketing fees have meant too many California students have had to drop out of college or take on massive student debt that will negatively impact them — and drain our state and local economies — for years,” Stitt said via email. “The Middle Class Scholarship helps change that.”
According to Allison Gallagher, Associated Students Inc. secretary of systemwide affairs, the Middle Class Scholarship Act would impact roughly 150,000 CSU students.
ASI Vice President Jonathon Bolin said the ASI Senate passed a resolution two weeks ago in support of Perez’s proposed legislation. He said the newly-formed ASI Lobby Corps then proceeded to contact each member of the State Assembly to voice ASI’s support.
“It’s a huge win for the middle class and students, and it’s also a big testament to summer ASI,” Bolin said.
The Middle Class Scholarship, if signed by Brown, will be funded by revenue from Proposition 39, which was passed last year to close a tax loophole for out-of-state corporations, according to Stitt. She said the legislation will take effect in the 2014-15 school year and will receive increased state funding each year until it is fully implemented in 2017-18.
The budget now heads to Brown’s desk for final approval, though the governor can still veto individual items of the budget. The governor has until the end of the month to sign the budget into law.