Ad Hoc Committee On The CSU Budget/Student Fees - October 10, 2003

The Story of the CSU Budget

Once upon a time, higher education was a promise in California. The California State University was created to "seek out individuals with collegiate promise who face cultural, geographical, physical, educational, financial, or personal barriers to assist them in advancing to the highest educational levels they can reach." (Mission Statement) Academic instruction was not part of the cost of a student’s education at that time, it was believed that the return to California from an educated teacher, business owner, even an Assemblymember or Senator, was worth the price of keeping seats in classrooms, top notch faculty and quality facilities available to students in California.

In the past ten years, California’s promise to students in higher education has been broken. Students have seen their fees increase over 150%. In a flashback to the early 1990's, students today have been hit with a "double whammy." The combination of raising fees, and cutting classes and student services out the CSU budget pushed thousands of students out of school. The consequences were devastating for the individual student, but far worse for the promise of a better California.

The development of the Master Plan for Higher Education in California in the early 1960’s marked an important political recognition of the substantial return that a college graduate has to offer the state. Through the 1980’s, students knew they could count on affordable access to a quality education in the CSU, and California’s economy grew and thrived. When economic conditions changed the early 1990’s, student fees were seen as a politically viable way to generate revenue, and fees were increased radically in a short period of time, while the quality of service in the system was eroding. Thousands of students felt the pain of a promise broken. They could not count on affordable access to a quality education in the CSU. It was devastating for individual students, but hard on California as well. We lost an important return from our investment in higher education, and we cannot afford to repeat this historical mistake.

The key to economic recovery in California was then, and still is, in the classrooms of the CSU. The highly skilled workforce that California will always need is being trained in our 23 campuses. Hundreds of thousands of students, and millions of alumni, depend on the opportunities that an education in the CSU provide them, and California depends on these students taking advantage of what they learn. During times of economic hardship in California, we must keep student fees in the CSU low, classes open and student services available so students can graduate before they can’t afford to keep attending.

For many of the students in the CSU, particularly the 49% on financial aid, the mission of the CSU to provide affordable access to higher education is more than just words. If we let go of the vision of the Master Plan for education, if we continue to compromise the mission of the CSU by raising fees while cutting classes and services, students won’t be able to stretch their loans any farther, or work any more hours and still graduate. We will lose the incredible return we could get from California’s best investment, education.

Expecting students to carry this budget deficit on their back by targeting us for tax increases is unjust, and bad for the future of California. A student fee increase is a targeted tax, and like most taxes, it is most punitive to those without economic resources. Every student forced out of the CSU because of a tax they can’t afford, is a step away from an economically healthy California.

We must uphold the promises that we have made to California’s future, we must continue the vision of the Master Plan and serve the mission of the CSU and keep access to a quality education affordable. We must also ensure that students are the table when decisions about the future of their education are being made. Student representation is crucial to the success of policies developed for the CSU.
The future of California is in the classrooms of the CSU. Working together, our students, administration, faculty and staff can make that future a bright and successful one.