CSUN University News Clippings

Students scrape to meet rising state college costs

(July 31, 2009)

By Cyndee Fontana
Published: 07/30/09

Fresno State student Phillip Bautista borrowed money from his parents and exhausted his savings after California State University trustees hiked undergraduate fees by $306 for the coming school year.

Now, he’s cutting back on basic expenses. Bautista plans to defer an oil change, insurance payments and a smog check on his Toyota Corolla to help pay for a second fee increase that will cost him an extra $672.

“I just hope my car stays in one piece,” said Bautista, 27, who commutes from Madera.

After two separate fee increases over the span of three months, full-time undergraduates at Fresno State and other CSU campuses will pay nearly $1,000 more in fees compared to last year. The cost is even higher for out-of-state students.

Including campus fees, a full-time undergraduate at Fresno State will pay $4,673 in fees this year. Officials say higher fees for the neediest students should be covered by financial aid.

But some Fresno State students say they’ll need more in student loans, and they’ll also deal with the pinch by finding second jobs, eating at home instead of eating out and tapping Mom and Dad for cash.

“I feel really disappointed in the state of California and the Legislature that they’ve chosen to use the educational system to balance the budget,” said nursing student Aubree Smith, 36, of Clovis, who plans to slash personal expenses such as new clothing and regular haircuts.

It’s not just CSU’s roughly 450,000 students rooting for dollars that aren’t in their pockets. Students at every level of California’s public colleges and universities will shoulder higher fees this year because of the tanking state budget.

California Community Colleges students will pay $26 per unit, up from $20. Full-time undergraduates at the University of California will pay an additional $662 in fees - and more if they come from outside the state.

Higher education experts lament the increases but say fees usually head north when the economy goes south.

Terry Hartle, senior vice president at the American Council on Education in Washington, D.C., said the choices available to state legislators often are narrowed by mandates or politics.

So, he said, they “look at colleges and universities and see lots of people who look like paying customers.” Washington, Arizona and New York are among the other states that have imposed double-digit college-fee increases this year.

In California, public universities are increasingly passing more of the financial burden to students and their families.

A 2008 report by the California Postsecondary Education Commission shows fees have jumped significantly as a portion of total costs. Between 1975 and 2005, fees grew from 21% to 32% of total costs at UC and from 9% to 22% of costs at CSU.

The overall escalation in costs has “been particularly hard on lower- and middle-income families,” the report says. Middle-class students are less likely to qualify for financial aid programs.

Yet despite repeated fee increases, experts say California’s public higher education system looks cheaper when compared to many other states.

But Kevin Woolfork, budget policy coordinator for the postsecondary commission, added: “It’s not low compared to what it used to be.”

Fees are one component of the college equation that also includes books, food and living expenses. In California, Woolfork said, “the fees are low … but the cost of living is high.”

Today, fee sticker shock resonates around the 23-campus CSU system. Undergraduate fees there have nearly tripled over the past 10 years; the price for graduate students has similarly skyrocketed.

This year, CSU trustees twice raised undergraduate fees for 2009-10 - 10% in May and another 20% in July - to help bridge a shortfall now estimated at $564 million, which is about $20 million less than earlier projections. CSU campuses also are slashing course sections, requiring employee furloughs and eliminating jobs to close the budget gap.

Fresno State students must pay the extra fee for the fall semester by Aug. 21. If not, they face cancellations of class registrations.

In conversations frequently tinged with anger and frustration, Fresno State students say they don’t have many places to find cash before the semester begins Aug. 24.

Junior Marina Carrillo, 19, of Corcoran, said she hopes financial aid and loans will pull her through. She also plans to cut back on entertainment and other spending.

Junior Latashia Williams, 20, of Oakland, was headed to an interview on campus for a second job this week - her answer to higher fees. Williams, who works at a children’s day care when she’s not in class, said she already struggles with paying apartment rent and the expenses of everyday life.

“I really have to choose what bills to pay,” she said.

Bautista, who is in the nursing program, said he carefully budgeted for his fees, only to watch helplessly as the price exploded.

Now, he won’t replace his badly frayed backpack. It’s Top Ramen instead of Taco Bell. And forget new scrubs. Bautista said he can’t keep up academically if he has to take a job. He’s moved back into his parents’ home, and he’ll probably ask them for more money.

Bautista said he’s also thinking about mowing lawns to help make ends meet.

Publication: Fresno Bee