Proposed Student Fee Increases Will Harm Student Body

In addition to the 34 percent increase to student tuition over the next five years and the $1,700 – $3,000 in annual mandatory fees that students are required to pay, CSU administrators are now proposing that Sacramento State students turn over another mandatory student fee increase upwards of $1,000 beginning Fall 2025.

If approved, the fee increase could set a troubling precedent for the rest of the CSU system.

Along with our students, CFA members have and always will strongly oppose any tuition hike or fee increase. We understand that these barriers hinder student success and close doors for prospective students of color.

With roughly 53 percent of CSU students experiencing housing insecurity and 66 percent experiencing food insecurity, raising fees will only deepen students’ financial hardships and inability to meet basic needs. This is especially harmful to Black and brown students, students with disabilities, and trans students who feel the most financial stress and are disproportionately affected by housing and job discrimination.

Administrators claim that part of these newly proposed fees will go toward student needs, such as implementing the 1:1500 counselor-to-student ratio that CFA members secured in our latest contract negotiations. Yet, the CSU has already received $15 million in state funding to expand mental health services, which they’ve grossly mismanaged and failed to use for hiring adequate numbers of counselors.

“Management must reconsider their priorities,” said Dale Allender, CFA Sacramento’s Anti-Racism Social Justice Representative and Sacramento State Professor. “Instead of allocating $6.5 million to campus police notorious for surveilling and harassing our students, why not invest that money into health services where our counselors can truly make an impact on our students’ wellbeing? Why not pull from the billions that the CSU has in savings and surplus? Or cut back on the excessively inflated salaries of administrators?”

Across the United States, Black college graduates owe an average of $25,000 more in student debt than white college graduates, and women hold 66 percent of the total debt load due to the long-standing gender pay gap.

“Plunging students deeper into debt by raising their fees will serve to widen the racial and gender gaps in higher education and the workforce,” said Antonio Gallo, CFA Associate Vice President of Lecturers, South and CSU Northridge lecturer. “We should not allow insurmountable debt to be the norm, nor should we allow it to define the direction of our public education system. The CSU system is exceedingly reliant on tuition and student fees to fund their capital projects and increase their revenue, all to the detriment of students. By placing the undue burden of debt onto our students, management is teaching them that it’s perfectly normal to have them work two to three jobs to pay for the cost of their education, subsidize management capital projects, and then come into the classroom – overwhelmed and exhausted – and somehow excel in their learning.”

Of the 23 CSU campuses, 21 are designated as Hispanic-Serving Institutions, 14 as Asian and Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions, and more recently Sacramento State became a Black-Serving Institution that established the nation’s first ever Black Honors College at a non-historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) institution. Increasing student fees is harmful to people of color and those coming from low-income communities. It will exacerbate enrollment declines and worsen mental health issues for these groups.

Management’s proposed fees fails to respect and protect the CSU’s diverse student body, and is contrary to the values of both our members and the mission of the CSU.

We will continue to fight alongside our students to oppose these fees and ensure they can continue to pursue a meaningful education.