CSUN University News Clippings

CSU chancellor proposes 20% hike in student fees

(July 17, 2009)

By Laurel Rosenhall

California State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed unveiled a plan Thursday to increase student fees by about 20 percent – asking students to pay nearly $1,000 more for annual tuition this fall compared with last.

Trustees of the Cal State system are expected to vote on the proposal Tuesday as one piece in a larger plan to close a $584 million deficit. Reed’s budget plan also calls for reducing enrollment by 40,000 students, furloughing workers two days a month and asking individual campuses to cut courses and programs.

The proposed $672 fee increase comes on top of a $306 fee increase trustees approved in May, when the trustees raised the cost of attending a Cal State school by 10 percent. Adding on the average campus fee of $801, the typical cost for undergraduates this fall would be $4,827.

“I think that’s a good bargain, especially if you compare us to other universities in the country,” Reed said during a conference call Thursday with reporters.

His proposal to raise fees comes as the federal government is handing out more Pell Grant money for needy college students and increasing the tax credits available to families with children in college.

Reed said students from families with incomes less than $75,000 would not wind up paying the higher fees because financial aid will cover them. That’s about 40 percent of Cal State students.

Middle class families – unable to qualify for financial aid, but still suffering from the tough economy – will likely be hit the hardest by the fee increases, experts have said.

If approved, the fee increase would generate about $157 million for CSU. Reed wants to save another $275 million by furloughing employees two days a month.

Most CSU workers are unionized and the furlough plan has ignited serious tension with the unions. Professors and support staff are voting this week on the plan to take two furlough days a month, which would cut their pay by about 10 percent.

The CSU Faculty Association has not told its 23,000 members how they should vote, said union President Lillian Taiz, a Cal State Los Angeles professor.

“This is a very difficult question and there are principled positions on all sides,” she said.

Reed said that if faculty reject the furloughs, he will lay off about 9,000 professors, which would force the university to cut 22,000 courses this fall.

Some members of the CSU Employees Union, which represents 16,000 nonacademic employees such as custodians, nurses and lab assistants, said they would prefer a plan that cut pay based on how much workers earn – the way the University of California is doing its furloughs.

Laura Lockett, who oversees the printing shop at CSUS, said many workers on her campus make less than $40,000 a year.

“For somebody in that income bracket to take a 10 percent hit can be financially devastating,” she said.

Publication: Sacramento Bee