Going Up?

EdSource has a piece about upcoming discussions at CSU and UC about tuition increases. There may be discussion at the January Regents meeting.

Early skirmishes have begun already on tentative proposals to increase tuition at California’s two massive public university systems for the first time in six years. Serious debate and protests – likely to be bruising at points – are expected over the next few months as financial and political impacts are weighed.

With the state budget in flux, both the 23-campus California State University (CSU) and the ten-campus University of California (UC) say nothing is set in stone about ending the lengthy tuition freeze for in-state undergraduates. But administrators warn that rising costs of pay hikes and pension plans and such academic initiatives as improving graduation rates may force tuition hikes for fall 2017: as much as $270 or 5% at CSU from what is now $5,472 a year and $300 or about 2.5% at UC from the current $12,294.

Political observers predict a series of battles as the proposals proceed through the universities’ governing boards and the Legislature in hearings, votes and closed-door negotiations that are expected to start in January and possibly continue until June...

H. D. Palmer, a spokesman for Brown’s Department of Finance, said it is too early to predict what the governor will propose for higher education funding and how that will be balanced with other needs such as health care and the environment. “At this point, the governor has yet to finish all the decisions he is going to send to the Legislature,” he said.  But according to Palmer, if there are tuition hikes and new funding to the universities, the governor will insist those are linked to improved efficiency at the universities, hastening time to graduation and bolstering course availability.

Full story at https://edsource.org/2017/debate-underway-on-csu-students-protesting/574525