Freeze the fees: Sacramento State students protest CSU’s systemwide tuition hike

It’s about to get harder for Kendall Ward to pay for college. Ward is a fourth-year political science major at Sacramento State and is set to graduate next spring.

With rent, car payments, bills and, now, a looming 6% tuition hike, Ward has contemplated taking a semester off because she can no longer “afford school.”

“Having that tuition increase is going to make it harder to get an education,” Ward said. “It shouldn’t be like that. It should be easy. It should be accessible.”

Ward was one of more than 400,000 students bracing for the California State University system’s newest tuition hike — some of them Wednesday protesting the change from eight months ago at Sacramento State and 22 other campuses across the state.

More than 100 protesters took to Sacramento State’s library quad, calling for the raise to be frozen. Students later marched up to Sacramento Hall to deliver fliers demanding the university to support a tuition freeze, slamming them on a receptionist’s desk in the President’s Office.

Tuition at CSUs will rise by 6% annually in the fall. But, over the span of five years, tuition will be 34% higher after the CSU Board of Trustees voted for the hike 15-5 in September.

In-state undergraduate students will see their education bills increase by $342 in the next school year. Compared with this academic year, tuition in the 2028-29 school year is expected to be $1,940 higher with the series of increases, according to CalMatters.

For example, an undergraduate student taking more than six units at a Cal State campus pays $5,742 per academic year. In five years it would cost $7,682 more for each in-state student.

Trustees in favor of the hike said the increase would provide financial stability for CSU amid a $1.5 billion structural deficit. Trustees, in a statement released in September, said this change will “help bring stability to the university’s budget.”

The tuition increase, they said, would generate $148 million in revenue its first year. The CSU said that $49 million will go to “financial aid support for students.”

Additionally, the CSU said the hike will not impact the “60% of CSU undergraduate students whose tuition is fully covered through grants, scholarships, waivers and other non-loan aid.”

But students like Ward don’t believe the increase is justified. College is already expensive, especially with additional fees, she said. Ward doesn’t qualify for financial aid and pays tuition out of pocket. And when she can’t pay in full, she’s had to take out loans.

The tuition hike, she said, feels unnecessary and is a “big burden” to her education.

“It’s not fair,” Ward said. “It shouldn’t be difficult for students to finish their education and graduate from college.”

California State Universities are known to be a more affordable option compared with their University of California counterparts, said Chayanne Sani, a fourth-year sociology major. But with tuition getting more expensive and often inaccessible for communities of color, Sani fears the system will see less enrollment and diversity.

As a continuing student, Sani said the tuition increase was going to make it “almost impossible to afford college.”

Students wonder how they’ll afford tuition

Some students, like Elena Ramirez, are uncertain they’ll be able to afford tuition next semester.

Ramirez, a full-time student double majoring in dance and biology, said she’s already struggling to afford tuition while working 38 hours a week across three jobs.

“It’s ridiculous. It’s crazy. People can barely afford it,” Ramirez said. “Especially with inflation and minimum wage not getting squeezed in as well.”

Students said the tuition is already expensive, and a future where it costs more will only set up more barriers.

William Robey, a third-year ethnic studies major who transferred from American River College who relies on student loans to pay for school, said he has had to work two jobs to maintain financial stability.

Robey said this semester alone, he is taking six classes, is in three clubs and works 40 hours a week. For a little extra money, Robey said he’s even donated plasma. This semester, even before the hike has gone into motion, has been “nothing but hard,” he said.

Robey said increasing tuition will also discourage students from underrepresented backgrounds to pursue higher education.

“Education is not merely a transaction,” Robey said. “It was an investment in our collective future, a beacon of hope that illuminates the path towards progress. Sacramento State is the ‘most diverse CSU’ as they push for equity, diversity and inclusion. However, increasing tuition is quite the opposite of that.”

Michael Lee-Chang, a second year political science major and the protest’s organizer, said the tuition hike is “evil.”

Education is a right, Lee-Chang added, saying a lot of students don’t feel their voices are being heard by not just the California State University system, but by Sacramento State administration and President Luke Wood. Lee-Chang urged Sacramento State to go against the tuition hike.

“We made it clear that we want to speak with (President Luke Wood) and want him to speak out,” Lee-Chang said.