Wednesday afternoon, students in the Coachella Valley learned the price of their college education is going up once again, the California State University Board of Trustees voted to raise tuition across all Cal State schools.

“If they were thinking about raising tuition prices, I mean that would make it a lot more inaccessible for a lot of students here in the Coachella Valley.” Andrea Pass, a nursing student at Cal State University, San Bernardino says.

The California State University Board of Trustees unanimously voted to approve a six-percent tuition hike for all Cal State schools.

The plan is set to begin in the Fall of 2024, but students in the Cal State system say this could be detrimental for many students.

“A lot of us, we rely on tuition assistance programs and scholarships, especially with the nursing program. We do a lot of volunteer work to gain hours so we can apply for scholarships but even with the scholarships and grants there’s still a lot that we can’t afford.” Pass says.

Many fear that with this tuition increase, students will shy away from applying to universities in the future.

“I know that that is a major factor students look into, so I believe that if they do increase the prices for CSU’s they might end up not applying to more colleges.” Leonard Delgado, a CSUSB student says.

Overall, the first rate increase would be $342 for a full-time undergrad student, but by the 2027 school year, students would be paying almost $2000 more than they are now.

Cal State University, San Bernardino sent us a statement saying in part “The increase will allow for additional academic support, early alert systems, outreach and case management efforts to support student success, retention, persistence and graduation.”

Even with these additional sources, students are still concerned.

“If they do it for the right causes, like we’re gonna get better experiences. We’re gonna have more in person classes or let’s say all my classes are more interactive, then I say go for it as long as you improve experiences. If it’s just to increase the price to try to get more profit out of it, I don’t think that’s worth it. Sacrificing education for money. To me it’s not worth it.” Delgado says.

CSUSB says through this tuition increase, 60% of all CSU undergrad students, will have their tuition covered by grants or waivers and financial aid will be adjusted to cover additional costs.

CSU System To Increase Tuition For All Schools In Fall 2024