CSU board approves tuition increases

By: Kelly Puente



Photographer Reed Saxon
Staged Student Protest after the Board Hearing

 LONG BEACH -- The Cal State University Board of Trustees today approved of a 5 percent tuition increase for students next spring and an additional 10 percent hike for the 2011-2012 school year.


In a meeting at the Chancellor's office in Long Beach, the board voted 14 to 2 in favor of the 5 percent increase and 13 to 3 in favor of the 10 percent increase.

The increase means full-time undergraduates would pay $4,884 in the 2011-2012 school year.


Tuition has been climbing steadily in recent years as CSU struggles to offset state budget cuts. In fall 2002, tuition for full-time undergraduates was $1,507.


Officials say CSU needs at least $115 million in revenue to sustain current levels of enrollment, instruction and student services. The planned 2011-12 tuition increase would generate $121.5 million in revenue.


Due to financial aid, an estimated 180,000 students - half of all CSU undergrads - will be fully covered for the tuition increases, they said.


"While we appreciate the funding that we did receive in this year's budget, the reality is our state support is roughly the same as it was five years ago and we have 25,000 more students," said Benjamin F. Quillian, CSU executive vice chancellor for business and finance.


"In addition, part of the funding we received -- $106 million -- was one-time federal stimulus money that is being used at the state's direction to admit 30,000 more students."


In an organized protest outside of the Chancellor's office, outraged members of Students for Quality Education and CSU faculty members said students shouldn't have to pay the price for budget woes.


"It's egregious to students," said Professor Dori Levey, who teaches nonverbal communication in dance at Cal State Long Beach. "(Board members) are acting like accountants and treating education like a business when it's not a business. There are lives at stake."


They say many students will not be able to afford the nearly $5,000 tuition for the 2011-2012 year.


"CSU says the increase in fees will give more access to classes, but the increase actually cuts of access for students who can't afford it," said Lillian Taiz, president of the California Faculty Association.


CSULB senior Dalia Hernandez, who was one of more than two dozen students protesting, said she did not qualify for financial aid last year and had to take on two part-time jobs to pay for her tuition.


"It's been really hard and the costs just keep adding up," she said.


Hernandez, who is the first in her family to attend college, said it was always her dream to attain a higher education. She hopes to get her master's degree in sociology.


"I'm might have to wait," she said. "I don't know if I'll be able to afford it."



Courtesy Press-Telegram