CSU tuition increase next year detrimental

This past week the California State University's Board of Trustees approved the budget for the 2005-06 school year. The new budget requires raising fees for resident undergraduates by eight percent and for graduate students by 10 percent. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger plans on making graduate student fees 50 percent higher then undergraduate fees. The fee increases will make it possible for 10,000 additional students to enroll in the CSU system because a portion of the additional money will be spent on annual enrollment growth.

This increase in students cannot be beneficial to our education. When there are more students in the classroom it becomes increasingly difficult to learn. The more students there are the less individual attention there is, and it becomes more difficult to participate in discussions or ask questions. Also, the more students there are the noisier a classroom becomes. These are all factors that hinder the ability to learn and next year we will be paying extra money for poorer quality education. The idea that we should have to pay more money for less education is absurd and unfair to the students.

Also, many students attending CSU schools chose to attend a CSU due to affordability. This new fee increase will make it nearly impossible for many students who do not qualify for financial aid or a grant to attend a university. The lack of higher education for those who cannot afford it can only be detrimental to California. We can only prosper from having educated citizens and we will be taking that opportunity away from many qualified students. This opportunity will go to people who can afford the new fees, but who are not necessarily as qualified.

When CSUs admit fewer students at lower fees they have more applicants and are able to be more selective about the kinds of students they admit. Also, it makes students who are qualified but have financial restrictions eligible for a better education and a better future. What this new budget will do is hinder the university's ability to select better qualified students because fewer will be applying, and it will make less qualified students who can afford the higher prices more likely to apply.

The quality of our education is going down at our cost. Ten thousand additional students will be entering the CSU system next year and we will have to bear the burden of the cost for these new students. Clearly those on the Board of Trustees do not fully understand the challenges that come from such a large number of additional students. As concerned students we should make our opinions known and understood. These people have the future of our educations in their hands. For them to be able to make decisions that will be in our best interest we must make our fears and concerns about our education known to them.

Lauren Williams is an undeclared freshman at CSULB.