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Worsening budget picture prompts student fee hike

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Hit with $125 million in cuts this year, the California State University Board of Trustees voted on Dec. 16 to increase undergraduate student fees by $72 a semester and graduate student fees by $114 to maintain access and quality at its 23 campuses.

The fee increase, approved by a 13-3 vote, goes into effect beginning this month.

"These are really, really tough times for California," said CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed. "We had been told our cuts would be one time, but now they are permanent. We didn't want to recommend raising fees, but everybody has to share a part of the pain if the CSU is to maintain quality and access."

The board acted in the face of a $59.6 million midyear cut by the governor, which is on top of a $43 million cut and $22.8 million in unfunded costs the system experienced earlier this year. There are more than 8,000 full-time equivalent students unfunded at the CSU this year. In total, the CSU will have to cut $125 million from its $2.68 billion budget during 2002/03. On Jan. 10, when Gov. Davis releases his 2003/04 budget proposal, the CSU will learn of additional cuts for the coming year, which many predict to be worse than this year.

Both the CSU statewide Academic Senate and statewide Alumni Council endorsed the fee increases.

At campuses operating under the quarter system, undergraduate students will pay an additional $96 total for the winter and spring quarters and graduate students will pay an additional $152.

Currently, CSU full-time undergraduate students pay an annual State University Fee of $1,428, the lowest in the country. With the trustees' action, the undergraduate fee will go from $1,428 to $1,572 annually. The graduate fee will go from $1,506 to $1,734 annually.

The fee increase will generate $30 million, but trustee policy mandates that one-third of the fee increase, $10 million, go directly to financial aid to assist students. The net of the fee increase is $20 million. More than 108,000 CSU students who receive State University Grants will qualify for funds to offset the increases, and nearly 30,000 CSU students will qualify for Cal Grant funds to offset the fee increases.

CSU resident fees had not increased since 1994-95, and undergraduate fees have decreased 10 percent in that period. This is the first time since 1982-83 that a midyear increase has occurred.

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