As more and more of the costs of higher education are shifted to students, and news of continued budget cuts plague public higher education institutions, many students have started to ask how we got into this mess in the first place.­ Many of the budgetary decisions that impact higher education in California were made more than a decade ago and still impact our institutions’ funding today.

Tuition Fees:­

Currently part-time tuition in the CSU is $1,587 per semester, or $1,058 per quarter, totaling $3,174 per academic year.­ Part-time students are defined as students taking six units or less in a semester or quarter.­ Full-time tuition is shy of twice the cost of part-time tuition. Full-time tuition (6.1 units and up) is $2,736 per semester or $1,824 per quarter, totaling $5,472 for the CSU student.

All of these numbers are for CSU students who are in state residence and completely undergraduate degrees.­ Credential programs, graduate programs and doctoral programs all cost more than undergraduate tuition. All non-resident students pay a per unit rate of $372 per semester of $248 per quarter in addition to applicable CSU system-wide fees, and all incoming students pay a one-time $55 application fee.

The CSU has suffered just under a billion dollars in cuts, or 35 percent of its budget, in just the last 18 months.­ As a result of these cuts, the CSU system is currently funded at the lowest percentage of California’s budget since 1965, which is the same decade the Master Plan for Higher Education was adopted.

In the last four years, CSU campuses have tried to accommodate the decrease in funding in a variety of ways.­ The CSU has decreased the total number of employees, system wide, by 3,000 people.­ This type of workforce decrease has forced professors to teach more classes with more students in them. The CSU has also implemented new technology to increase efficiency and decrease personnel and increase donations and philanthropic support on all 23 campuses.­ Some campuses have been able to combine administrative functions to reduce overhead costs. These efforts, however, have not been enough, and some of the burden has fallen on students.

Tuition fees for the CSU have been rising as a result of decreased state support. The graph to the right shows the decrease in state support and the increase in the cost of tuition.­ Students now pay more than half the total cost of their education leading some to call the CSU system “state supported” instead of “state funded.”

You can see from the graph below that the CSU system has increased its tuition fees at a greater percentage than many other public institutions.­ The CSU has increased its fees by more than $1,000 per year while the average increase falls closer to $550 annually.

That said, because the CSU system was significantly less expensive than many of its competitors to begin with, it has managed to remain among the more affordable public college options.­ One must keep in mind, however, that all of these figures are only reflective of tuition fees, and do not include additional fees that may be determined by individual campuses such as health center fees, student body fees or parking permit costs.

Increases in student tuition fees have been able to make up some of the difference between the cost of providing an education and the reduction in state support, but it has not been able to cover the difference completely.­ Even though students are now paying 51 percent of the cost of their education, the CSU system still has a shortfall of $500 million.

In addition to the fee increases, both the Chancellor’s Office and each CSU campus have attempted to reduce costs, but the budget hole persists.­ In response to this problem, Chancellor Reed and the Board of Trustees for the CSU have announced that they are unwilling to ask the students to bear anymore of the burden and that his office will not approve any more tuition or fee increases.

In an effort to mitigate some of the effects of the budget hole, the CSU plans to cut enrollment for the 2013-14 academic year by 20 to 25,000 students.­ Most of the CSU campuses will discontinue spring enrollment and many CSU campuses will greatly reduce or stop accepting transfer students.

In addition, in order to make sure that all the currently enrolled students have equitable access to the limited number of courses that are offered, a unit cap will be placed on students system wide: students will be able to take 15 to 17 credits each term, though exceptions will be made for graduating seniors.

Current legislation that could affect the budget:

Assembly Bill 2126 by Assembly Member Marty Block would permanently grant the CSU system the authority to issue its own regulations in terms of policy and budget management. A previous bill granted the CSU system this authority for the last 15 years, and two previous bills granted the CSU this authority prior to that.

In the past each bill has had a sunset clause that allows the legislature to review the CSU and potentially strip it of self-regulation and decision-making power. Because the state provides less than half the funding for a CSU education and because the CSU has a governing structure in place comprised of university administrations, a Chancellor and a Board of Trustees, some argue that the sunset clause is inappropriate.­ Assembly Bill 2126 gets rid of the sunset clause and grants the CSU the authority to regulate itself from now forward.

Assembly Bill 1501 establishes the Middle Class Scholarship Program, which would begin in the 2012-2013 academic years.­ The scholarship program would make undergraduate student enrolled in the CSU or UC eligible to receive a scholarship grant in an amount that, combined with other financial aid, is at least two-thirds of the amount charged to that student in that academic year for mandatory system-wide fees.

This means that qualifying students are guaranteed aid that covers two-thirds of the cost of going to the CSU, part of which is provided in scholarships that do not have to be paid back.

To qualify, a student’s annual household income cannot exceed $150,000. The student must either be a resident of the state or be exempt from paying nonresident tuition. The student must complete and submit a FAFSA application. And lastly, the student must make a timely application or applications for publicly funded student financial aid programs for which he or she is eligible, other than the Middle Class Scholarship program.

Assembly Bill 1500 tightens the state’s corporate tax formula by requiring all firms to calculate their California income tax based on their share of sales in the state. Current law allows companies to choose the less costly of two formulas. This bill would direct the savings from this change to the Middle Class Scholarship Program (as discussed in Assembly Bill 1501), benefiting higher education students.

This is the first column in a three-part series on budgets and fees.

Selena Farnesi is the president of Associated Students, Inc. Follow her on Twitter @SMFarnesi.