CSUN University News Clippings

CSU fee increase may be halted, but not now

(September 1, 2009)

By Bob Egelko

A San Francisco judge refused Monday to stop California State University from raising student fees by 20 percent to help offset losses in state funding, but said students at some campuses may eventually get refunds.

Superior Court Judge Peter Busch denied a preliminary injunction that would have blocked the fee increase at the nine campuses in the 23-school system that haven’t already collected it. The nine include San Jose and Sonoma State and the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo, as well as campuses in Los Angeles, Long Beach and Sacramento.

But he said students at some campuses are likely to prove that the university made a binding commitment in May to set fees for the fall term at a lower level, and then broke that promise by telling them to pay 20 percent more in July.

A proposed class-action lawsuit on behalf of CSU’s almost 450,000 students seeks refunds of the increases at all 23 campuses. Busch’s ruling means students must pay the higher charges while the suit proceeds. It is likely to take a year or more to resolve.

“We’re confident that students are going to prevail and get refunds,” Danielle Leonard, a lawyer for the students, said after the hearing.

CSU spokeswoman Clara Potes-Fellow said the ruling was “a victory for the students,” who “will be able to receive the quality of education they expect.” The university has said it would have to reduce class offerings and might lay off teachers if the increase was rescinded.

CSU trustees had already raised fees by 10 percent in May, to $4,155 a year for undergraduates, when they voted two months later for an additional 20 percent increase, or $672 a year. It was part of a plan to fill a $584 million deficit that also included reductions in enrollment and employee pay.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit argued that the university entered into a contract by telling students in May that they could enroll for the fall term at the new fee level.

A similar argument persuaded a state appeals court to overturn fee increases that the University of California ordered in 2003. CSU contends it notified students that fees are always subject to change.

Busch said Monday that the UC ruling was “a very strong case” for the CSU plaintiffs’ claim that the July increase was a breach of contract at campuses where students were promised lower fees.

But the judge said the information that CSU provided to students about 2009-10 fee levels apparently varied among campuses, and he was unwilling to order a statewide freeze based on incomplete evidence.

The increase will have a “marginal impact on students,” Busch said, citing CSU efforts to make grants and loans available to cover the added charges.

At Monday’s hearing, Leonard said three-fourths of CSU students hold jobs - 20 percent of them full time - and said the higher fees would force many of them to work longer hours.

She also contended that the university had overstated its claims of hardship and could survive without cutting programs until the spring semester, when it could legally raise fees after proper notice.

But Daralyn Durie, the university’s lawyer, said CSU would have to reduce classes and student services if fee levels were frozen. “There is a genuine crisis here,” she told the judge.

Publication: San Francisco Chronicle