The California State University (CSU) system will not increase tuition for the 2018-2019 academic year. Instead, CSU Chancellor Timothy White is making a case to lawmakers to fund the priorities of the 23-campus system.
“Cal Poly as a CSU campus is helping fulfill the CSU mission and supporting California better than ever before,” university President Jeffrey Armstrong wrote in an email to the Cal Poly community April 20.
According to a CSU press release, the system is retaining, enrolling and graduating students at record levels. Armstrong said the system cannot maintain these levels of success without sufficient funding.
Earlier this academic year, the CSU budget requested an increase of $263 million to fund the university’s highest needs. In January, the budget proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown included an increase of $92.1 million. Because this budget fell short of what the budget sought, the CSU system considered increasing tuition.
“We all want high-quality degrees to meet the needs of the state’s economy and society, today’s and tomorrow’s. We all want faculty and staff to be fairly compensated. These shared priorities are shared responsibilities for California,” Chancellor White wrote in a message to the CSU community.
White is now looking towards each campus for support to show state leaders that funding for the CSU is “key to California’s future.”
Armstrong wrote in his email that Cal Poly will support the efforts of the CSU over the next two months to persuade lawmakers. According to university spokesperson Matt Lazier, Cal Poly has already been in close contact with State Senators Bill Monning and Jordan Cunningham.
Armstrong, Associated Students, Inc. President Riley Nilsen and ASI Secretary of Student Advocacy Jasmin Fashami visited Monning’s and Cunningham’s offices in Sacramento to take part in CSU Advocacy Day, supporting a fully funded university system, March 7.
“These efforts will continue in support of the broader effort to persuade state lawmakers to sufficiently fund the CSU,” Lazier said.