Cal State Reaffirms 40% Hike in Student Fees for 1992-93

Plans for a 40% fee increase for students at the California State University were reaffirmed by the system’s trustees Wednesday--an action that provoked an angry response from students who tossed cartons of trash at the trustees’ feet.

“This is what we think of your fees!” shouted the handful of students who threw the debris on the floor of the trustees’ conference room in Long Beach.

No disciplinary action was taken against the protesters, who promised to move their fight against the fee hike to the Legislature, which has final say over the 20-campus system’s budget.

In all, about 40 students attended the meeting to denounce the $372 increase, which would bring 1992-93 basic fees for a full-time student who is a state resident to $1,308, excluding room, board, books and parking. The night before, 17 students slept outside Cal State system headquarters in tents and cardboard boxes--a symbol, they said, of the homelessness that might be faced by people priced out of an education. They called their camp Wilsonville, a rebuke to the governor’s support of the fee rise.

The Cal State trustees’ finance committee met Wednesday to consider altering the fee hike enacted last month by the full Board of Trustees. But given the grim state budget situation, the eight committee members agreed that the 40% increase was the only way to avoid enrollment limits or massive cuts in course offerings.

If approved by the Legislature, the increase is expected to generate $116.8 million a year, about a third of which would be devoted to extra financial aid. It would come on top of a 20% hike enacted for the current school year.