The Associated Students Board of Directors discussed student involvement and its opposition to the California State University (CSU) proposal to increase tuition for all students at the beginning of the 2024 academic year during its first meeting of the Fall 2023 semester on Wednesday.
The plan proposed by the CSU would raise the price of tuition by 6% every year for five years, lifting the cost of a full-time student’s annual tuition from $5,742 to $7,682 by 2028, according to a CSU webpage.
Associated Students Director of Legislative Affairs Estevan Guzman presented the letter opposing the tuition increase to the Board of Directors, which will be made public and forwarded to the CSU Board of Trustees.
Guzman said the proposal will be forwarded to San Jose State University President Cynthia Teniente-Matson and her cabinet and to politicians including Rep. Ro Khanna and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan.
The letter details how the increase disproportionately affects 40% of all CSU college students, including international, undocumented citizens and middle class students.
Nearly 60% of all enrolled undergraduate CSU students have the full cost of their tuition covered by grants, scholarships or waivers according to the CSU Multi-Year Tuition Proposal.
Guzman said he identifies with the 40% of CSU students who will have to bear the costs of paying a larger bill in the years to come, along with approximately more than 180,000 students in the CSU system.
“For them to introduce it during the summer while none of us are on campus, that's insulting in my opinion,” Guzman said. “You don't include the student voices, you're not including the people that are affected by this proposal in the discussion and you're simply just throwing it to the few student leaders that are actually involved.”
Guzman also said the CSU should have involved and considered all students in its proposal for increasing tuition.
“It's hurtful that us as students are being ignored and in favor of monetary gain,” Guzman said.
He also said many students might be unaware of these upcoming increases, as the lack of communication from the CSU itself has led to most students attending CSU campuses to potentially hear about this for the first time from their respective Associated Students organizations.
“How are students going to know about this proposal if all that they've been communicated is through their [Associated Student’s Organization],” Guzman said. “The students need to know what's happening, they're the ones affected, they're the ones who are gonna be paying more in the long term.”
Director of Student Rights and Responsibilities Sehtej Khehra said he suggested members of his board who are also part of Recognized Student Organizations (RSO’s) to encourage the organization to sign onto the letter in support of further representing students of the university.
Director of Business Affairs Het Tikawala said he attended an audit meeting where a speaker said tuition will be increasing regardless of oppositional efforts put forth by anyone, including the Board of Directors.
“We cannot expect that tuition will not increase,” Tikawala said. “It's definitely going to increase.”
Economics senior Fernando Martinez said this increase will only make going to college more difficult for first-generation college students.
“[The tuition increase] is a bit unjust, especially if it was posted during the summer from what it sounds like,” Martinez said. “It’s six percent over a year, but that can compound year over year and it can get out of hand pretty quickly.”
Other topics discussed were announcements of future events being held around campus this semester.
Sonja Daniels, associate vice president of campus life said President Teniente-Matson university budget summit will be held on Sept. 14.
Transformation 2030 is a university strategic plan that acts as the framework for the university’s future goals and ambitions, according to a university webpage.
“We certainly have some cuts to make and decisions of where our priorities are on Transformation 2030,” Daniels said.
