Around 300 students gathered at Malcolm X Plaza to voice their opposition against the 6% CSU tuition increase proposal, which will be decided by a vote Tuesday at the Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach.

“I might have to drop out. I can’t pay for that,” said Ricardo Salis Landa, a first-year student at SFSU. “My mom is a single working lady and is the whole reason I was able to come here. With the tuition raise, I’m already working a lot of hours. I would have to work an extra nine hours –– [it] would not be possible to continue my education.”

Landa is a full-time student taking five classes and working a minimum-wage job at WingStop as a cashier. Landa is joined by various other student organizations, including the League of Filipino Students, Movimiento Estudiantil para Liberación de las Américas, Young Democratic Socialists of America and Associated Students, in their collective stance against the tuition increase.

“I came to a state school because I knew it would be affordable and it’s close to home. But all the benefits that come with going to a state school are negated by the tuition hike,” said Luna Fife, a first-year student. “I don’t want to end up in student debt. I don’t want to put that pressure on my parents to pay for my tuition. I don’t want to have to get a job in my first semester, and it puts us in a precarious situation. This isn’t a fucking UC. We came here for a reason.”

Many students attend CSUs due to their affordability compared to UCs, according to Fife. The rally hosted speakers from student organizations for the first 30 minutes.

“I’m extremely outraged, as I had just transferred here and administration is still threatening to cut services here at SF State, and the CSU is trying to use our money to make up for their mistakes with the budget,” said Gage Gerber, a YDSA member. “I just transferred here from San Diego and I’m outraged at the fact that my tuition is going to increase for this next year.”

The rally was followed by a march towards the Administration building at 1 p.m. Students chanted, “Hey hey ho ho, tuition hikes have got to go.”

Future transfer student Benjamin Leach, currently attending Skyline College, was among the students to join the march.

“I’ve been on my own since I was 14. Why would you want to increase tuition for somebody who’s already struggling?” Leach said. “It affects me because I’m going to be a future alumnus here, so for me to have a future here, they are taking that away. Fighting for this means that I’m going to get a proper education. This right there is an action towards that. Towards a better life, education and future kids.”

After arriving at the Administration building, students continued chanting, held up signs and later walked their way back to Malcolm X Plaza at 1:30 p.m. to hold an open mic until 2 p.m.

“Hearing about this is so infuriating. Why should I live comfortably in digging myself into thousands and thousands of debt, but President Lynn Mahoney and people above get paid more than my professors?” said Roxane Jaramillo, a second-year student who spoke during the open mic. “Why should I have to suffer? All administrators get thousand-dollar stipends. Why is she living comfortably? But I’m living with rats and roaches in Mary Park and Mary Ward. It isn’t fair that CSUs pride themselves on making it affordable. Nothing about this is affordable. We don’t owe them shit, they owe us [an] education.”

Lynn Mahoney stated in an interview with GGX, “I’m never in favor of charging students more. But we only have two places to get revenues, the state and tuition, and the state has given all that they can give — And our employees are underpaid.”

The California Faculty Association collaborated with the student organizations in support and provided buses that were canceled today. The bus was scheduled to take students to the Dumke Auditorium at the Office of the Chancellor in Long Beach on Sept. 11, where the Board of Trustees meeting is to take place.

“We authorized to reimburse students $2500 to take Greyhound buses because to charter a single bus was over 5,000 dollars and too expensive for us,” said James Martel, Tenure/Tenure track Vice President for CFA.

Student organization LFS will still be traveling to Long Beach independently.

“If this passes, I might have to go home and go to a 2-year [college] that I can already not afford,” Jaramillo said. “I came here for a better advantage for my family and they are just pushing me back because they are greedy and want my money. They don’t want me to succeed, they want my money. That’s what’s making me mad. They want to dig us into debt so we can be proud of something.”