Fee Increases
During the fiscal year, the California State University (CSU) system absorbs individual cuts of $125 million dollars. The CSU Board of Trustees votes to increase fees for the spring semester, meaning each fulltime resident undergraduate will now pay $786 per semester in state university fees-up $72-while each graduate student will pay $867, an increase of $114. Even after the increase, however, the California State University's fees remain, by far, the lowest in America. (As a policy, one-third of the revenue from any state university fee increase goes directly toward financial aid. Financial aid will expand to help offset the impact.)
Governor Davis's proposed budget for 2003-2004 includes an additional $460 million in permanent reductions and unfunded mandatory cost increases for the CSU, as well as additional revenues for growth coupled with an additional 25 percent tuition increase. To help combat the problem, CSUMB institutes a freeze on all hiring as a cost-containment measure.
According to President Smith, "When you lay all of the elements of the Governor's proposed budget end-to-end, the CSU-and CSUMB within it-is being asked to serve thousands more students-an increase of 470 FTE here-on a base budget that is, at the least, between $1.5 and $2.0 million dollars less. Why should we support it? Because there is more need in California than there is nurture in the state budget this year, and the competition for existing dollars will be fierce in Sacramento."
100 Campus Center
