Students for Quality Education, Students for Justice in Palestine, and other activist groups marched down the hill of Shoreline Village Drive on Mar. 26th to protest in front of the California State University Systems Chancellor’s Office in downtown Long Beach.
Last year, the CSU Board of Trustees instituted a systemwide tuition rate increase totaling 34% spread out over the next 5 years. The current base tuition does not include mandatory campus-specific fees, which can add to the cost of attendance. These fees may increase separately from the tuition increase during the next five years while the CSU system tries to cover a projected $1.5B deficit.
But student protesters aren’t buying the CSU’s argument. Throughout their protest, the students criticized their university and Chancellor’s administration alike for failing to provide services in critical areas like housing and mental health, while executive compensation and perks like free housing and vehicle allowances have not been curbed.
“All students, particularly students of color face financial struggle. And I think that we all feel it, not only ourselves,” said Jalen Lomeli, a Latinx scholar and CSUF student who had transferred from Rio Hondo Community College.
Lomeli stated that most of the protestors are close to graduating, but were there to advocate for future CSU students. When asked if the increases helped maintain campus services, Lomeli expanded that she has experienced the opposite.
“I have seen downsizing of a lot of programs that low-income students and people of color need at my campus specifically. And it’s really harmful to us, to our community. It feels almost targeted because we know the data, we know that as students of color, low-income students, we need these programs and it’s awful to see that other things are being prioritized above us.”
Students for Quality Education member Noah Galbraith concurs with Lomeli, stating that budget priorities at his home campus CSU-Los Angeles are in areas furthest from education.
“This is a protest to take back the CSU, to reinvest its money into the things that serve the students’ mental health and education, and divest from things like war mongering companies Boeing and Raytheon Technologies, and also the police unions on-campus: none of this stuff really has to do anything with education which is what the CSU should be about.”
Galbraith graduated with an Associate in Social Justice from Mt. San Jacinto Community College and transferred to CSULA as a Chicano Latino studies major.
When asked if he had advice for future CSU transfer students, Galbraith stated the following.
“It was all you. Every step that it took to get to where you are or to the position and education that you’re in…was all you. It had nothing to do with the institution itself. The grind doesn’t stop when you get to the CSUs. In fact, it’s going to be just a little bit more of a grind in my opinion.”
Along with previously reported FAFSA delays affecting Financial Aid awards, current LBCC students that plan to transfer to a CSU should prudently visit their future campus and plan their college finances accordingly.