By Angelina Liang
Addendum Editor
As University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) schools struggle to find funding, the public university systems have decided to raise tuition for the first time in six years. Due to cuts on state support, these public school systems have proposed raising tuition by $270 for each CSU student and $280 for each UC student.
State funding for each student dropped from 72 percent in 2000 to 41 percent in 2016, according to Teresa Watanabe and Rosanna Xie of the Los Angeles Times. Because of this, the schools are attempting to cover the cost of these resources by raising their students’ tuition.
“A tuition increase is something none of us wanted to do,” stated CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White. “Having the resources is going to be essential for us to make good steps on admitting more students.”
Today, there is a record amount of students who meet college requirements and are being admitted into the UC system. Under the pressure to raise enrollment and graduation rates, many UC schools are now finding themselves without enough resources for all of their students.
More specifically, it has become increasingly difficult to provide enough classrooms, instructors, lab space, and dormitories for students.
Last fall, the CSU system had to reject 30,000 eligible applicants due to the limited amount of space and resources on its campuses.
“This is an opportunity for UC [students] to demonstrate our values and use our creativity and intellectual resilience to solve our problems in ways that won’t create additional burdens for students,” stated Ralph Washington, Jr., a graduate student in the UC Davis etymology program.
Washington is at the forefront of student protests against tuition hikes. He, along with many of his peers, believe that there is a more efficient way to find funding for education than raising tuition, including cutting the pay of faculty members and dividing funds based on students’ needs and interests.
