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Laura Pezzini
lpezzini.md@gmail.com
The California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees has postponed making a decision on a plan to place fees on retaken classes, course loads more than 17 units and “super seniors.”
The plan was originally devised in order to generate revenue and incentivize on-time graduation, and was meant to be discussed at the board meeting Tuesday and Wednesday. In a statement Tuesday morning, the CSU said “the proposal to modify the current undergraduate fee structure was part of the agenda for today’s Board of Trustees meeting and will now be reviewed at a later date.”
The Board of Trustees cited its need to “gather additional information and input from stakeholders” as its reason for postponing the discussion. CSU Media Relations Specialist Erik Fallis said these stakeholders include various groups that represent the potentially affected students.
“They’ve certainly been in conversation with a number of student groups,” Fallis said. “The chairman mentioned specifically a conversation he had with the student leadership. There will certainly be a number of people who will be involved in the conversation.”
Any further reasons behind this delay were not specified by the Board of Trustees, according to Fallis.
“At this point the news is just that this is deferred and everything will be under consideration when the board picks it back up again,” Fallis said.
Fallis also said there is no concrete time frame for when the subject will be picked up by the board once again.
“They didn’t set a time that this would be back on the agenda, but it won’t be during either day of this month’s meeting,” he said.
The proposed fee changes would address three potential situations that many students come across throughout their college career.
Firstly, a fee would be placed on “super seniors” who have completed at least 225 units. The threshold for this fee would be placed at 240 units beginning in Fall 2013, and then would be fixed at 225 units in Fall 2014. The fee would amount to $248 per unit over the threshold, according to the Board of Trustees’ meeting agenda. This requirement would not, however, include units gained from Advanced Placement classes.
The second fee would affect students taking more than 17 units per quarter — even though CSU schools do not charge per unit, it would enact an additional charge as soon as a student’s course load hits 18 units. The fee would be $122 per unit.
In addition, students would have to pay a $61 fee for each course they retake. This would include courses retaken for any reason, whether because of failure or the desire to improve a grade.
Though the implementation of these fees would generate revenue for the university, Fallis said they are intended more as incentives for students to move smoothly and efficiently through the curriculum.
“What we were talking about here didn’t necessarily relate to finances specifically,” Fallis said. “What we were looking at was how to distribute classes fairly among students. What we really were looking at is, how do we motivate in a way that actually frees up that space for other students?”
There was speculation the fees were originally devised as a backup to the potential failure of Proposition 30, and the agenda which details each fee provided for separate potential fee amounts for either outcome of the proposition. However, CSU representatives contended that the passing of Proposition 30 was not an element in the delay.
CSU Public Affairs Assistant Liz Chapin said the passing of Proposition 30 was not entirely relevant in postponing the conversation.
“The board just gave an indication that they wanted more time to get input,” Chapin said. “They didn’t indicate that it was in relationship to Prop 30.”
Students raise concerns about the fact many people may unintentionally exceed the unit threshold because they cannot get into their required courses on time, and oftentimes taking more than 17 units is necessary just to stay on track.
“It seems like that would be completely counter-intuitive if they’re charging you more to take extra classes,” mechanical engineering sophomore Julien Blarel said. “If you get behind and you try to catch up, you’re going to get hit by an increase in fees, so it’s going to have the effect of people wanting to take less classes. A lot of people have to take 16 units just to graduate on time and if you miss one class, you have to make it up the next quarter. I’ve had to take 18 units and I would say this would probably decrease my chances of wanting to do that.”
However, it seems CSU students must simply wait until further notice by the Board of Trustees to see whether the fees will be implemented.