California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a state budget Tuesday, that made official the $3 billion cut to the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) systems.
In addition to faculty furloughs finalized Wednesday, the CSU Board of Trustees voted to increase student fees by 20 percent on July 21. This fee increase is on top of a 10 percent fee increase that was already approved. One-third of the fee increase will go financial aid.
Brian Ferguson, communications specialist for the CFA, said “This budget crisis has been a very painful experience for students.”
With the increased student fees, quarterly tuition for Cal Poly students will be $2,066 — which totals at $6,198 in a three-quarter school year, not including summers.
This amount is higher than the $4,827 CSU average, but still lower than the UC average of $8,700.
Cal Poly’s tuition is also lower than other polytechnic universities like Cal Tech, which will see tuition of $33,324 in 2009-01 and Virginia Tech, which has an annual tuition of $8,604.
The chancellor’s office also announced an enrollment freeze for spring quarter July 9 that would help reduce enrollment by 35,000. The chancellor’s goal is to reduce enrollment by a total of 40,000 students for the 2010-2011 academic year.
A few infrastructure projects at Cal Poly will be put on hold as a result of the deficit, including a $124 million upgrade of the science “spider” building and the project to turn South Perimeter Road into a plaza in the fall.
Projects like the $71 million Rec Center remodel and the $3.1 million University Union Plaza renovation will continue because the projects use funds that cannot be used for academics.
Koob said there is no way to reallocate the money in light of the current budget situation.
“The fact is that it’d be illegal to spend it anywhere else,” Koob said.
Cal Poly’s current $226 million budget will see a cut of about $33 million, which is a 15 percent cut for the 2009-10 school year.
Lauren Rabaino, Katie McIntyre and Tim Miller contributed to this report.