CSU Board to Meet Today on Fee Hikes

The California State University Board of Trustees Wednesday will consider raising tuition by $498 for the 2012-13 school year, a move that would mark the system's ninth increase in nine years.

CSU officials said the proposed 9 percent tuition increase is necessitated by continued cuts in state funding, which they say has been slashed by $650 million in recent years, with another $100 million cut possible next month. However, the board was expected Wednesday to request an additional $138.3 million in state funding, and if it is approved, it would eliminate the need for the boost in tuition.

But failing the increase in state funds, tuition for undergraduate CSU students would increase from $5,472 in 2011-12 to $5,970 for 2012-13. With campus-specific fees added in, the total cost for undergraduate students would be just more than $7,000 for the full year. The increase would be on top of a 12 percent tuition hike that took effect this school year, and a 9 percent increase that was imposed in 2010.

According to CSU officials, the availability of financial aid will mean that about 45 percent of the university system's students will not be impacted by the tuition hike. CSU students are expected to protest the planned tuition hikes during the board's meeting.

Other students and activists backed by ReFund California -- a coalition of groups opposing the management tactics of large banks -- are expected to protest at the meeting and then stage a march along Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach, ending at a Wells Fargo bank building. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a member of the CSU Board of Trustees, said he would oppose the tuition hike.

``We have an obligation to our students and their families to send a strong message to Sacramento that our higher education system and economy cannot meet its potential unless this catastrophic trend is reversed,'' Newsom said.

--City News Service