CSU tuition set to spike

[ilbegone]

CSU tuition set to spike

Mediha Fejzagic DiMartino and Josh Dulaney, Staff Writers

11/10/2010

The Cal State University Board of Trustees voted on Wednesday to hike tuition by 15 percent.

The increase, intended to offset a shortage in state funding, will go into effect next year - 5 percent on Jan. 1 and an additional 10 percent increase next fall.

Some students at Cal State San Bernardino seemed to accept the tuition hike as part of college life in California.

"To me, it's something I can't really control," said Alex Alvarado, an 18-year-old freshman, who works part time at Target to help pay for his education.

He said he's saving for the next quarter of school, and the hikes will only make things tighter financially.

"I don't like it because I'm not getting financial aid and it's having an effect on my family," he said. "With the recent election, I hope the people in office can change it."

Currently, full-time CSU undergraduate students pay an average tuition of $4,230 a year. In the 2011-12 academic year, it will be $4,884.

"That's a lot," said Ryan Williams, a freshman at Cal Poly Pomona. "I'll have to find another job, or work on campus between classes."

Full-time tuition for winter/spring of 2011 will increase by $105 per semester for undergraduate students and $252 for graduate students.

Next fall, undergraduate students will cough up an additional $444 per academic year, while graduate students will pay $546 more.

"They need to bring it down, not up," said senior Shemaiah Robertson of Pomona. "When I started, I was paying $1,200 and now it's almost $1,700. That's how much my parents pay for their house payment. I wish we could vote on it, not (trustees)."

Robert Turnage, assistant vice chancellor for budget, said state financial aid is expected to increase with the tuition hikes, so students receiving financial aid will not see any tuition increases.

"It seems like the only people who can afford to go to school are the extremely poor or the extremely rich, and the middle class is left to fend for themselves," said Cal Poly junior Cristina Renteria of Ontario. "We don't get any aid."

The tuition increase was prompted by a gap in state funding, according to the CSU Chancellor's Office.

The governor's 2010-11 proposed budget in January assumed a 10 percent raise in CSU student tuition as part of an overall partial restoration in funding.

The Board of Trustees adopted a 5 percent increase in June, counting on the Assembly budget proposal to provide funding for the remaining 5 percent.

But the state budget, adopted by the Legislature last month, has left CSU resources approximately $64 million short.

"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 5 years ago and we have 25,000 more students," said Benjamin Quillian, CSU executive vice chancellor for business and finance.

The midyear tuition increase will allow the CSU to restore services across the system including the addition of approximately 3,000 courses for winter/spring 2011.

There is a chance that the second wave of tuition hikes could be rescinded - the trustees have indicated that they will ask the governor and Legislature to provide state funding needed to "buy out" the 10 percent increase, according to the CSU Chancellor's Office.

CSU isn't the only college system planning changes. The University of California is proposing fee hikes of 8 percent. The UC Board of Regents is expected to vote on the proposals in San Francisco next week.

Kevin Acuna, a 19-year-old sophomore at Cal State San Bernardino, works extra hours in the summer to save for school, compared the hikes to the UC system as a way to put things in perspective.

"I think it's better versus the UC (schools)," he said. "It's not that bad I guess. I get partial financial aid but I still have to pay for books."

Acuna said there wasn't much talk among students about the increased costs.

"It won't really hit them until it happens," he said.

Cal State San Bernardino President Al Karnig said while nobody is happy about the increases, the cost of education at CSU remains relatively low compared to other parts of the country.

That's something most students understand, he said.

"There is an astonishing level of maturity on the part of our students who understand there is no magic in it," Karnig said. "It has to be funded some way or another, or something has to give."