The California State University Board of Trustees voted 15-5 to approve a 34% multi-year tuition increase proposal at the CSU Office of the Chancellor building in Long Beach on Sept. 13. The decision follows an earlier unanimous vote from the board’s finance committee.
The tuition increase, which was proposed after a report of a $1.5 billion CSU budget deficit earlier this year, would raise tuition by 6% every year for the next five years. If approved, undergraduate resident students at SFSU taking more than six units would see their tuition rates increase by $342 by the beginning of the next school year. Yearly tuition will increase next fall by $342. By fall 2028, the yearly tuition will increase by $1,940.
It’s an increase that would not directly impact 60% of students, according to CSU, as their tuition is fully covered by financial aid. CSU plans to add a portion of the revenue generated in the following years to the State University Grant Program, an in-house grant available to eligible students.
For the 40% of students whose tuition is not fully covered by non-loan aid, tuition will incrementally increase throughout the next five years.
CSU expects to earn an estimated $148 million in revenue by next fall due to the increased hike. By the end of the 2028-29 school year, CSU expects to earn around $840 million in revenue from this hike.
This decision comes after yesterday’s contentious public comment session, where students, faculty and staff from across the 23 campuses spoke in opposition to the hike. While many students spoke on how the multi-year tuition increase will affect their lives, their comments carried a similar sentiment; their belief that low-income and minority students will be negatively affected in the years to come.
California Lt. Gov Eleni Kounalakis agreed with the students’ concerns. At one point, she asked to delay the vote until November in order to collect qualitative data on the 40% of students who will be affected by the hike.
In response to the student concerns and Kounalakis’ proposal to delay, members of the board repeated that there are no other proposed solutions to help mitigate the deficit.
CSU’s assistant vice chancellor Ryan Storm showcased the proposed budget for the 2024-25 school year and did not miss a beat to point out any area where the multi-year increase would help mitigate the deficit. At the end of his presentation, he recommended the trustees approve the proposal.
The two student trustees, Diana Aguilar-Cruz and Jonathan Molina Mancio, continued to advocate throughout the session; on multiple occasions attempting to compromise with the board by suggesting an amendment to change the five-year increase down to four years. The amendment was quickly shot down.
As the vote began, students from California State University Los Angeles stood up and held hands in solidarity against the inevitable — they watched the outcome of a proposal they worked hard for months to reject.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
