Death of the CSU

Who’s pulling the plug on California’s education?

Lena Jones, a freshman English major, worked full-time all summer to get ready for the increased tuition. Still, she wasn’t sure how much cash she’d have on hand for the fall semester as her financial aid package remained up in the air.

The current economic recession has not proved kind to the San Jose State community. Many find themselves coping with the California State University’s financial troubles, including rising tuition and fewer available university resources.

William Cooley, a junior journalism major, urged others to register on time and plan ahead.

“Don’t be that person walking into class not knowing if you’re enrolled,” he said “And you might want to take a job, or a second job, to prepare for the random money SJSU might suddenly charge you.”

Both undergraduates and graduate students were charged an extra few hundred dollars on top of last fall’s tuition. Even with a few months’ notice, some students struggled to come up with the cash.

“I know people who had to borrow the money, or pick up extra hours at work,” said Melissa Avidano, a sophomore biological forensics major.

A few hundred dollars is quite a bit of money for someone working part-time or who is dependent on family support shared by siblings, Avidano said. 

John Juntado, a TRFT major, said he is rethinking his educational plans due to the budget cuts.

“If I could repeat the last couple years of my life, I think I’d go to a community college instead of SJSU,” he said. 

However, as Andrae Macapinlac and Julian Rosenberg, campus organizers with Students for Quality Education point out, all of our state school systems, including K-12 schools, the University of California system and community colleges reflect the effects of the economic downturn.

To Macapinlac and Rosenberg, no school is safe from the recession and they said they believe everyone in the California educational community should join together for advocacy. 

Steven McMurry, a junior kinesiology major, said he couldn’t get any of the upper division classes required for his academic program last semester.

“Make sure you have a flexible work schedule, and be prepared to plan the rest of your life around school,” he recommended.

Issues with getting classes, including those necessary for graduation, present a double bind for students. Many are working more hours or acquiring additional jobs in order to cover the costs of tuition and books and have less room in their schedules. This poses a problem for the flexibility needed in order to take classes offered at less convenient times.

McMurry described another concern of many students: “Some people wonder, if the administration is charging us more and also offering fewer classes, then where is the extra money going?”

Macapinlac said SQE encourages students, faculty, staff, andadministration to work together rather than mistrusting each other without knowing all the facts.

“We’re on the same side, dealing with the same problems and concerns. And it’s really the state government that’s responsible for the budget cuts, not President Whitmore or the SJSU officials,” he said.

SQE chapters operate on 19 of the 23 CSU campuses and support similar efforts at community colleges and the University of California system to advocate for renewed investment in public higher education.

SQE supports the state’s prioritizing CSU funding, along with Assembly Bill 656, which would institute a special oil tax. Every oil-producing state except California already charges, and direct the funds toward education.

Some students fear taxing oil companies will drive up gas prices, making commuting more expensive even for people who take the bus.

Rosenberg said A.B. 656 included a provision prohibiting companies from passing on costs to consumers and that one state’s tax would probably have little effect on world oil prices.

“The CSU system has a long, proud tradition of offering a decent college education to anyone academically qualified, regardless of income,” Macapinlac said.

“The schools were intentionally planned and designed to educate our workers and citizens, the middle and working class as well as everyone else,” he said. “But in the past few decades, we’ve moved away from that concept by slowly chipping away at the funding. In 2002, the state severely cut back the CSU budget, and tuition has gone up every year since then.”

“Many of our local and state elected officials are San Jose State alumni,” Macapinlac pointed out. To him and many other students, faculty and alumni, the CSU system exists as a valuable societal resource worth preserving.

The California Faculty Association, a union of 25,000 professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches who teach in 23 campuses of the CSU system, published a report by Tom Mortenson, an independent higher education policy analyst, and senior scholar with the Pell Institute for Opportunity in Higher Education, which supports Macapinlac’s conclusions.

Mortenson believes a highly functional CSU system is critical to California’s economic development.  He sums up his analysis of the differential growth and decline of various sectors of California’s economy between 1950 and 2007 by explaining that simply working hard and obeying the laws no longer enables many Californians to reach a decent standard of living. Higher education has become vital to personal and family survival and prosperity – and meeting the needs of our state industries and shoring up our tax base.

Linda Ortega is chair of the economics department and believes slowdowns and budget crunches represent natural parts of an expanding and contracting
business cycle.

“Markets just go up and down with time, and we see service cuts if we haven’t put aside enough in a rainy day fund to get us through the leaner times,” Ortega said.

Ortega cautioned students protesting the budget cuts that the government will have to make hard choices if the money simply isn’t there and there are many other vital state priorities. Also, she said higher taxes may drive people and businesses out of state.

For students, she recommends approaching a college education as if bargain hunting at the mall.

“Look for the best deal on the most important skills – creating logical arguments, writing effectively, and basic math and statistics – and take the classes you need, even if they aren’t all in the same department,” she said.

Some students presented unique suggestions for how SJSU could weather the state’s financial storm.

Avidano said she wondered whether construction projects could be better prioritized or spaced out to lessen the financial impact upon students.

Carlo Epps, a sociology major, brought up the idea of a student internship related to efficiency consulting and systems engineering, where people could earn academic credit for working together with staff and faculty to brainstorm ways to make university procedures cheaper and more efficient.

“We might as well draw on the resources we have – our educated students and faculty – rather than spending money we don’t need to or hiring consultants,” Epps said.

Rosenberg said he remembers information from the campus’ environmental resources center explaining how replacing SJSU’s lawns with drought-tolerant native shrubs could save up to two million dollars in annual water and maintenance costs.

“We’d have a one-time cost of changing everything around, but then save cash afterwards,” Rosenberg said.

Ally Gomez, a senior business major and SJSU peer mentor, said SJSU could streamline the process of helping students navigate post-budget cut education through a centralized FAQ website.

“The university could offer information on a variety of topics. What to do if your parents suddenly lose their jobs and your financial situation changes? What to do if you can’t get a class you need for graduation?” said Gomez.

Students, faculty and staff continue to demonstrate creativity and helpfulness, even as state budget cuts pose serious challenges to the original mission and purpose of the CSU
System.

Sidebar – How to cope

1)      Sign up for required classes early.

2)      Check the MySJSU Web site and pay your fees on time.

3)      If you can’t get the classes you want, find extracurriculars you like that contribute to your career goals.

4)      Stay creative and keep your sense of humor.

5)      Meet with your advisers, figure out what you want to do and try to graduate on time.

6)      Save up some extra money, plan ahead for tuition hikes.

7)      Talk with professors, peer mentors, fellow students, etc and let people know what’s going on and what might help you.

Cristina Deptula