Overpriced college textbooks, diminished range of classes, pricey parking permits, and unit caps are all issues students at California State University Sacramento deal with from one semester to the next. As if these limitations are not enough of a burden on students, The California State University Board of Trustees agreed to impose an overall 15 percent tuition raise over the course of the 2011/2012 academic year.
Students have trudged this far through the murky education system, but will this increase be the last straw that pushes students to their breaking point?
Surprisingly, the answer is no.
Sami Nielson, a senior at CSU Sacramento majoring in psychology, thinks the fee increases are getting out of hand.
“I have two loans out along with my parents who have one. I have to not only pay back my loans when I am done with school, but I have to pay back my parents as well. I'm going to be about $40,000 in debt by the time I graduate, if I even get to graduate on time,” Nielson says.
After being asked if she once considered dropping out of school due to these fee hikes, Nielson replied, “I have considered dropping out because of the prices, but I've already paid so much and am so close that if I dropped out none of it would have been worth it.”
Ashley Tieken, another student at Sac State, echoes the same idea.
“The tuition increase is really tough on my parents because my sister and I both go to Sac State, so it's really double the increase for them because we're both full time students and unemployed. I'm lucky because I only have one semester left, but my sister is only a freshman so will be subjected to further increases in the future,” says Tieken.
Tieken mentions that the increase inconveniences students in more ways than one.
“It's ridiculous because we are paying more and getting less. Classes are so full that many people end up sitting on the floor for weeks, or you're wait-listed and don't get into the class and many people who are enrolled end up dropping anyway. Where is our extra money even going?” Tieken asks.
It seems this question resonates with all students. The school board’s answer is this: “The new tuition rate will help the CSU sustain enrollment, classes and services for students,” according to Sacramento State’s News and Information web page. Students’ frustrations stem from not seeing an immediate change, and the fact that perhaps they are the ones being financially punished now only to bring about change in the future—to only the next generation of students, not the current ones.
Richard Hall, a Sac State senior majoring in Computer Science, says, “Our tuition has increased but our allotted units to register has decreased making it difficult to finish the necessary courses to stay on track to graduation. This forces us to be enrolled longer, resulting in more money spent over time. We are not paying just the 15 percent increase; we are paying that in addition to the extra time we are spending here.” Hall wants to know whether it is just current students suffering, or if this escalating trend will continue for generations to come.
In June, the Board approved a 5 percent tuition increase for the 2010/2011 school year “after the Assembly proposed to secure funds to buy out the other 5 percent increase assumed in the governor’s budget. The Assembly’s revenue proposal was dropped from the final budget, and the level of support from the state—while higher than last year—is still at approximately 2005-06 levels, and the system is serving more students now than it was then,” according to the CSUS News and Information site. This brought the undergraduate semester tuition to $2,597.
On November 10th the Trustees approved a 5 percent increase for Spring 2011 along with a 10 percent increase effective for the 2011/2012 school year, according to Sac State President Alexander Gonzalez’s 2010 Fall Address. The 5 percent increase effective next semester will leave an undergraduate student expected to pay $2,702 a semester. President Gonzalez says that “our hope is that next year’s state budget will buy out the 2011-12 increase, and the CSU is making this request of the governor and Legislature.”
With decreasing reinforcement from the state, the CSU system is barely able to keep its head above water in the cascade of new student admissions each year. If nothing changes, fee hikes will not end here.
Eric Valencia, a student at Sac State who is majoring in Kinesiology, says, “It’s been crazy trying to afford school. I don’t get any grants; I have about three loans out right now. If I don’t graduate on time due to the unit cap, my parents won’t be able to afford me living up here. I only work one day a week at my job plus an unpaid internship; therefore, I can’t afford to make it on my own. My dad, who is our sole source of income, had to resign from his job. This tuition increase is ruining my chance at becoming the first one of my family to graduate,” says Valencia.
It is important to mention that the CSU system is still one of the “lowest-costing public university systems in the country…[and] continues to reduce spending in response to state cuts through hiring freezes, furloughs and reductions in operating expenses,” as stated on CSUS’s News website.
These issues hit hard for all students in many different ways, but these hardships don’t come without a newfound strength to be persistent and hope that one day the hard work will pay off—speaking both in mental and financial terms.
