(AP) — California State University will not raise tuition at its 23 campuses for the 2018-19 academic year as officials had proposed, Chancellor Timothy White said.
White said the country's largest university system is dropping a proposal for trustees to consider raising tuition that was to be discussed at a May meeting.
"We're pulling it off the table. It will not be discussed in May and there will be no tuition adjustment at the California State University for any of our students in the 2018-19 year," White told The Associated Press ahead of an official announcement Friday.
Undergraduate tuition is currently $5,742 a year. In January, White said CSU trustees needed to consider raising tuition for California students by $228 in 2018-19. Tuition for in-state graduate students was also to be discussed.
A similar increase was approved in the previous academic year, the first since 2011.
University officials say that Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed state budget allocates a fraction of what the university system needs to maintain its quality of education at a time of record-high enrollment: $3.8 billion for CSU in 2018-19 — a $92.1 million increase in state funding, but less than the $263 million the system requested, White said.
The Legislature will approve the budget in June, and White said he will continue until then to press the state Legislature for increased CSU funding but not put more financial burden on students.
"In light of California's strong economy, California students and their families should not be saddled with additional financial burden to attain public higher education," White said.
In March, the University of California's governing board approved a tuition increase for out-of-state undergraduate students of 3.5 percent, or $978 a year, starting in the 2018-19 school year. The increase will bring tuition and fees for out-of-state undergraduates to nearly $42,000 next year, more than triple what California residents pay.
The UC Regents said, however, they will rescind the increase if they can secure more funding from the state.
In May, the regents will take up the more contentious issue of whether to raise tuition for California residents.
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