The cost of a bad education is going up in California State colleges.
“CSU students, still reeling from the financial strains of a global pandemic, face the harsh reality of rising tuition. When examining CSU’s history of fee increases, it becomes clear they are regularly implemented during times of widespread financial struggle, and this time is no different. However, what we are seeing today is that despite the rising costs of living, textbooks and educational resources, the CSU system seems to prioritize amplifying executive compensation over mitigating student financial hardships.”
Spend more money to be told you are either an oppressor or the oppressed, that science no longer exists and American is what is wrong with the world. Then being told unless you get rid of cars, efficient appliances, stop drilling for oil, you will kill the planet, no wonder folks are going insane.
Raising salaries while increasing tuition shows CSU leaders’ priorities are badly misplaced
DOMINIC QUAN TRESELER, EdSource, 8/22/23 https://edsource.org/2023/raising-salaries-while-increasing-tuition-shows-csu-leaders-priorities-are-badly-misplaced/696207
As president of the Cal State Student Association representing over 480,000 students within the California State University system, I am deeply disturbed by the CSU’s recent move to propose tuition hikes while simultaneously inflating presidential and chancellor salaries. This development starkly contradicts our educational system’s core mission: to provide an accessible, affordable, high-quality education for all.
CSU students, still reeling from the financial strains of a global pandemic, face the harsh reality of rising tuition. When examining CSU’s history of fee increases, it becomes clear they are regularly implemented during times of widespread financial struggle, and this time is no different. However, what we are seeing today is that despite the rising costs of living, textbooks and educational resources, the CSU system seems to prioritize amplifying executive compensation over mitigating student financial hardships.
Over the last three years, the chancellor’s salary has seen an almost 60% increase, and some campus presidents have seen a nearly 30% increase. While we all understand the importance of competitive compensation to attract and retain talent, it is both morally and fiscally irresponsible to prioritize administrative pay over student affordability in these challenging times.
The CSU trustees’ current course of action threatens to overburden students while further enriching CSU executives. It’s a decision made even more perilous by the current era of record inflation, housing crises, and declining enrollment rates due to financial constraints. A tuition hike of this magnitude will likely force many of our students to choose between basic necessities — food, shelter, medicine — and their education.
While I warmly welcome Chancellor Mildred García to her new role, the approval of her lavish salary package, alongside the proposed tuition hikes, signifies an alarming disconnect between the CSU trustees’ decisions and the harsh realities faced by our student body.
According to research, nearly 48,000 CSU students are homeless, yet the CSU board deems it fitting to offer a housing allowance to a chancellor whose salary already places her in the top 1% of Californian earners. Our students struggle to commute to class on public transportation, bikes, skates and anything else they can to make it to class on time and fit their education into packed schedules, yet the board approves a car allowance for the chancellor and campuses hesitate to adopt more flexible learning modalities.
It is a situation that has triggered rightful indignation from both students and trustees who recognize the inherent contradiction of approving a substantial chancellor’s salary while professing a commitment to CSU affordability.
I join these voices in challenging the trustees’ judgment and questioning their commitment to the CSU’s core mission of providing an accessible, affordable, high-quality education for all.
I implore the board to revisit its priorities. Trustees should seek alternative funding measures or more equitable distribution of resources rather than imposing financial burdens on the students they are pledged to serve.
Our diverse, creative and determined student community deserves more than victimization by fiscal decisions that favor a select few at the top, making higher education — an essential catalyst for social mobility and future prosperity — an unattainable dream for many.
As the heart of the CSU’s mission, the pledge to provide “accessible, affordable, high-quality education” is in danger of becoming an empty mantra, leading to a significant loss of trust from the community it aims to serve.
The Cal State Student Association is steadfast in advocating for student rights and needs. I hope the CSU remembers that without students, there would be no need for presidents or chancellors, let alone justification for their exorbitant salaries. I call on the CSU board of trustees to freeze administrator salary increases and reaffirm their commitment to students — the foundation and future of the CSU and California.
This is about more than tuition fees or executive salaries. It’s about the values we uphold as an educational system. Our students deserve better. They deserve an education that is affordable, accessible and not subjected to decisions that prioritize administrators over students.
This is what education should be all about. Let’s ensure it stays that way.
