The CSU would increase financial aid by an amount equal to approximately 1/3 of the new tuition revenue generated by the rate increase.
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Financial aid awards for low-income students would increase to cover the cost of the potential tuition increase. Currently, nearly 82% of all CSU students receive some form of financial aid, and 60% of CSU undergraduate students would continue to have tuition fully covered by grant aid or waivers.
Currently, CSU tuition rates are among the lowest rates in the country. Nearly 82% of all CSU students receive financial aid. And, 60% of undergraduate students receive non-loan aid to cover the full cost of tuition. Those students would not be affected by a tuition increase because their tuition is fully covered by a Cal Grant, a State University Grant, or a waiver.
The CSU would provide additional financial aid support from the tuition revenue that would be generated from the rate increase.
Even with the proposed tuition increases, CSU rates would still compare favorably to those of other universities. Assuming tuition and fees at comparison institutions grow at their recent average rate, CSU tuition and fees would not reach the comparison average until at least 2041-42. In other words, it would take 17 years at the proposed tuition increase to reach the average of similar U.S. university systems.
In addition, before the end of the five-year period, an assessment of tuition rates would be reported to the CSU Board of Trustees (Board to ensure that the CSU continues to fulfill its mission to provide accessible and affordable high-quality education to California residents and tuition rates remain reasonable and justified according to the current economic trends and financial needs of the university.
Approximately 220,000 CSU students receive federal Pell grants. Pell grants can be used for tuition, fees and other higher education expenses. Only 5% of Pell grant recipients, or approximately 12,000 CSU students, have a Pell grant that covers all or a portion of tuition costs because most Pell grant recipients receive a state Cal Grant or CSU State University Grant that covers tuition costs. For those Pell-only students, the concern could be valid as the multi-year tuition proposal would put in place tuition rates that exceed the Pell grant by $287 in 2028-29. However, this would only be the case if the maximum Pell grant did not increase over the next five years. For comparison, the maximum Pell grant has increased $1,300 over the past five years since 2018-19. Additionally, the tuition proposal would not affect approximately 208,000 or 95% of CSU students that receive Pell grants because in these cases, most Pell grant recipients receive a Cal Grant or State University Grant that covers tuitions costs, which means Pell typically covers non-tuition related expenses like food, housing, transportation, or campus-based fees.
The CSU is committed to providing students with a high-quality, affordable education. The CSU's tuition and fees are annually benchmarked against 15 comparable public peer institutions and reported to the Board each year. This is an important step in transparency so that the Board is aware of tuition and fee rates in the CSU and elsewhere. The most recent reports indicate the CSU remains an affordable option for California high school graduates and community college transfer students.
If a student does not qualify for financial aid that covers the cost of tuition, some other options are assistance from family, student employment, payment plans, student loans and parent loans.
State University Grants can cover full tuition and up to 50% of campus mandatory fees. Other forms of financial aid such as Cal Grant and Pell Grant can cover both tuition and fees.
A tuition increase would increase Cal Grant costs for awards to CSU students by an estimated $47 million in 2024-25.
In 2022-23, $73.4 million worth of waivers were granted:
Students receiving these waivers would continue to have the same type of waiver with the proposed tuition increase. The value of waivers would go up incrementally as tuition increases over time. However, the number or proportion of waivers should not change significantly.
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