When we graduate, many of us will find ourselves neck-deep in a pool of debt, wishing we had remembered our water wings.
Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White is now considering “success fees” proposed for the California State University, which will only contribute to the compounding debt facing students. They essentially increase students’ annual tuition and reveal an egregious loophole in the CSU’s supposed commitment to freezing tuition and providing students with an accessible education.
These fees promise more classes, counseling, academic needs, improved graduation rates and more attention to improving academic success. While these resources are useful in providing a supportive environment for students during their college career, the fact that the CSUs impose these fees on students instead of managing to pay for these resources from their own pockets is immensely frustrating. Academic support shouldn’t fall on the burden of the students — it should be an inherent part of the financial infrastructure of the CSU itself.
So far, 11 of the 23 CSUs currently require student fees, which range from $60 per year at Cal State Fullerton to $267 at Cal State Long Beach. Unsurprisingly, students are angry.
A group of students protested at the CSU Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach on March 26. They claimed these “success fees” are a thinly veiled method of avoiding a tuition hike. We at City on a Hill Press agree with these protesters and consider these fees yet another offense against those the CSUs say they serve: the students.
By ignoring students’ input and failing to provide transparency, the CSUs are exploiting young individuals who simply want an education that will supply them with tools to find successful careers after graduating. Each time fees like these are approved, students sink further into debt, and experience more anxiety around how to pay off loans. Students should be thinking about their futures once they graduate rather than feeling financially burdened by their past.
These fees come after nearly 10 years of tuition and fee increases due to budget cuts in both the CSU and the University of California. A recent report released by the California Budget Project revealed even with funding increases of $142.2 million in Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed 2014-15 budget for the CSU and UC systems, state support would remain nearly one-quarter below pre-recession levels, according to the Los Angeles Times. Both tuition and fees increased significantly since 2006 — 91 percent at Cal State and 74 percent at UC.
These numbers are disturbing to say the least. As part of California’s public education system, the UC must recognize the many flaws in the CSU’s proposed “success fees.” In order to bring visibility to the piling anxieties of student debt, we as students must resist measures like these — via protest, dialogue with fellow students, contacting officials, whatever it takes — as we attempt to reclaim the idea of an affordable education for all Californians.
Earlier this year, students and faculty at Sonoma State protested the possibility of a $250 “success fee.” Officials heard their cries and dropped the fee. Let’s stand up like those at Sonoma and demand Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White reject these “success fees.” These proposals are a crime against the student population, and we implore Chancellor White and other CSU executives to find alternative forms of income.
Otherwise, we’ll all just be flailing in the deep end of our debt, hoping after we graduate we won’t drown.
