Reed
proposes additional tuition increase
By Joyce Kelly
On-line Forty-Niner
Charles
B. Reed, the California State University
system chancellor, said he tried everything
before determining the fee increase for
the students attending the 23 colleges in
the CSU system.
“We’re going to serve all the students we
have — it’s like trying to read tea leaves,”
Reed said.
In his report to the CSU Board of Trustees,
he expressed the importance of the situation
with the state’s budget and its effect on
the colleges, Wednesday.
Increasing fees will allow CSU students
to maintain access, but not to be able to
get the classes they want.
“Students won’t get every class they are
looking for — but they will get the classes
they need,” Reed said.
Reed proposed another increase of fees for
CSU students to the trustees in a report
from his Committee on Finance. This increase
is in addition to the 10 percent for undergraduates
and 15 percent for the graduate students.
Student fees were increased $72 per semester
and $144 per year for undergraduates, $114
per semester and $228 per year for graduate
students.
During the December meeting, Cruz Bustamante,
lieutenant governor of California, felt
the trustees were making hasty decisions
to increase the fees.
“First, the action to increase fees is premature,”
Bustamante said. “Second, the governor has
indicated he is not in support to increase
fees.”
Nevertheless, Davis has proposed a $447
million cut from the CSU budget, and he
has proposed an additional increase in the
students’ fees for 2003-2004 budget.
After the original tuition increase, Reed
has proposed an addional 25 percent to undergraduates
and 20 percent to graduate students.
“According to the governor’s proposal, the
undergraduate students will have an increase
of 40 percent,” said Clara Potes-Fellow,
spokeswoman for the Chancellor’s Office.
This means that his proposal will cost CSU
undergraduate students on average, $2,466
and $2,580 for graduate students.
Bustamante voiced his concern for the financial
bind that the increase of student fees would
create.
“Increasing student fees would be short-sighted
and would hurt California’s working class
and middle-class families,” he said. “We
know that raising fees will decrease attendance
at our universities. As leaders, we should
be working to make college more affordable
during these tough economic times. Now,
more than ever, we should be investing in
our state’s future leaders.”
In the “Status Report on the 2002-2003 and
2003-2004 Support Budgets,” the Committee
on Finance from the Chancellor’s Office
stated, “The governor continues his commitment
for student access by providing the CSU
with an additional $105.8 million to fund
a 5 percent student enrollment increase
for 2003-04.”
The Board of Trustees will not act on the
information it received from the Finance
Committee until March. |
