Editor’s note: This article has been edited to correct a statement about tax extensions. If state taxes are not extended in June, the university may expect deeper cuts than if they are extended.
An additional $94 each semester and $35 each summer will be added to Cal State Long Beach student fees effective this summer, President F. King Alexander announced via e-mail Wednesday morning.
CSULB students currently pay $580 in campus mandatory fees per academic semester. This is on top of $4,335 in tuition paid by undergraduate students taking more than six units per semester. Undergraduates taking six or fewer units pay $2,514 in tuition and campus mandatory fees.
The new fee is a result of state budget cuts beginning in 2008. Alexander said Wednesday afternoon that the fee increase was justified.
“This fee increase addresses the current budget cuts and the ones that hit us three years ago,” Alexander told the Daily 49er.
In the campus-wide announcement, Alexander also referenced the outcome of a possible June referendum to extend three existing state taxes that he called a “greater concern.”
“[If not extended], everything is on the table — increased tuition hikes, furloughs and decreased enrollment in January,” he elaborated later in the day.
Toni Beron, vice president of public relations at CSULB, sent the Daily 49er a breakdown of the fee increase per student on Wednesday afternoon. It includes money for athletics, SOAR and Student Health Services.
Impact on student programs
“These are programs that — if we lose — we will spiral back from our 55 percent graduation rate,” Alexander said at Wednesday’s Associated Students Inc. meeting.
As a result, the fee will provide $6.6 million in additional funding over two semesters — $2.38 million of which will go to athletics.
The fee will free up approximately $500,000 annually for Associated Students Inc. and another $500,000 in instructionally related activity funds.
Athletics asks ASI for $600,000 each year, according to ASI Treasurer Jameson Nyeholt. The ASI reliance relief would provide more funding to athletics, therefore providing “relief” for funding other groups, he added.
ASI President James Ahumada responded to the timing of the increase Wednesday.
“The fee increase is not good in a sense,” he said. “I can’t support the timing of it, but in principle, no one can say learning communities aren’t important.”
Ahumada also said ASI will be working with the university to set up an advisory board — consisting of a student majority and faculty and staff representatives — to ensure the money is used efficiently and students have transparency. He said the board will meet once a year.
Beach Legacy Referendum
In March 2009, students voted not to accept a $95 per semester fee increase to aid athletic programs, called the Beach Legacy Referendum. Approximately 60 percent of the student body that voted was against the fee. The BLR was just an advisory vote, however, and Alexander had the authority to request that CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed implement the fee. Almost two years and numerous funding cuts later, CSULB has acted to increase student fees.
At an ASI meeting Wednesday, Alexander said: “What sits on my desk is much bigger than athletics. It is programs like SOAR and psychological counseling that are on the table, as well.”
CSU Media Relations Specialist Erik Fallis said the fee hike was not unusual.
“Often schools implement increases to help pay for a new rec center or something like it,” he said.
Student reaction
Some students said they do not agree with the reason behind the new fee.
“I think it’s unfair to charge everyone to fund certain academic and sports programs if not everyone uses them,” junior fashion merchandising major Lily Hernandez said.
Other students said they were more understanding due to the state’s budget situation.
“It’s unfair to put more strain on students, but I don’t think anything else could be done,” said sophomore nursing major Maiying Her.
Alexander wrote that there is never a good time to raise student fees.
“However, as we have seen our state appropriation reliance decline from 42 percent to 26 percent over the last three years, we are faced with the elimination of many essential academic and student service programs,” he wrote. “There is no good time to prevent students from having the multiple educational opportunities necessary to graduate in a timely manner.”
Zien Halwani contributed to this report.
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