Students schooled on latest CSU fee hike

15 percent increase coming


Donna Seltzer and Noheli Viramontes are among thousands of university students who will be working harder for a college degree that just became more expensive.

The women, juniors at California State University Channel Islands in Camarillo, will have to pay higher tuition fees starting Jan. 1. It’s a reality faced by 430,000 CSU students throughout the state.

The California State University board of trustees voted Nov. 10 to raise tuition 5 percent, or $105 a semester, on Jan. 1 and 10 percent, or $222 a semester, in 2011-12.

Full-time undergraduate students will pay $2,220 in the spring instead of $2,115. Next fall CSU tuition will climb 10 percent, to $2,442 a semester.

“I’m definitely thinking of getting another job over the summer, for sure,” said Seltzer, a 21-year-old political science major who’s taking five classes this spring. “It’s going to make it a little tougher. . . . It’s more debt on my name.”

Seltzer finances college through student loans, scholarships and a part-time job on campus. She wants to go to law school after graduation.

Viramontes, a business major also taking five classes, may have to put off graduation.

The 20-year-old from the City of Commerce had planned to take more classes in the fall, and perhaps summer or winter classes, to graduate in spring 2012.

But she said the tuition hike may force her to scrap those plans and stay at the university an additional semester to obtain her degree.

Viramontes relies on financial aid, a campus job and money from her mother, a single parent who works three jobs, to pay for college.

Viramontes said the increased tuition may also mean her younger brother, a senior in high school, will attend community college instead of starting at a university.

“We’re just trying to find out how we’re going to pay for him to go to college now,” Viramontes said.

In a Nov. 10 press release, CSU trustees said the increase is needed to sustain student enrollment, classes and services. California State University is one of the largest higher education systems in the country, with 23 campuses, 44,000 faculty and staff, and more than 430,000 students.

The 5 percent increase in January will allow CSU to restore services throughout the system and add about 3,000 courses. The 2011-12 increase means trustees can add an additional 6,000 courses to CSU class schedules.

Last January, the governor’s proposed budget assumed a 10 percent CSU tuition increase. Trustees approved a 5 percent tuition increase in June after reviewing a budget proposal from the Assembly providing funding for the remaining 5 percent. But the money failed to make the final 2010-11 state budget, leaving CSU $64 million short, the board stated.

Benjamin Quillan, vice chancellor for business and finance, said state funding has remained static for about five years although CSU campuses serve 25,000 more students.

The system’s budget this year included $106 million in one-time federal stimulus money, but Quillan said the state required that the money be spent to admit 30,000 more students.

“These students will be on our campuses long after this one-time funding has been exhausted, and we have to ensure that we have the ongoing resources to support them,” Quillan said.

Financial aid will cover the increase for some 180,000 students, or half all CSU undergraduates, and tens of thousands of other students can take advantage of new tax credits for family incomes up to $180,000, the board said.

Trustees said they’ll ask state lawmakers to provide enough funding in 2011-12 to “buy out” the tuition hike, allowing universities to rescind the 10 percent increase.

Even with the 2011-12 fee increase, the CSU board said tuition is still affordable. Annual CSU tuition ranks second lowest among 15 comparison institutions and $2,848, below the comparison group average, the board said.


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