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From CSUSB:

May 13, 2009 - Facing serious reductions in state funding, the California State University Board of Trustees today increased undergraduate, credential and graduate student fees for the 2009-10 academic year.

Effective in fall 2009, full-time annual fees will increase by $306 for undergraduate students, $354 for teacher credential students and $378 for graduate students. The undergraduate State University Fee will go up from the current $3,048 to $3,354 per year. Including the current average campus fee of $801, CSU undergraduate students will pay approximately $4,155 for one academic year, which is the lowest fee among comparable public institutions.

"It is never an easy choice to raise fees, but we are faced with a dire state budget, and today's increase is necessary to maintain and operate our university campuses," said CSU Board Chair Jeffrey Bleich. "It is critical that students get their financial aid requests in. This year, benefits for programs such as the Pell Grant are more generous than ever. Through financial aid and grants, nearly half of our students will see no increase in their fees. In addition, due to financial aid, CSU students with family incomes of $75,000 or less will pay no fees at all."

The student fee increase, which represents $127 million in revenue, was included as part of the 2009-10 budget adopted by the legislature. The university will set aside one-third of the revenue from the fee increase ($42 million) to augment financial aid to cover the fee increase for financially needy students. Approximately 183,000 undergraduate students will receive grants that fully pay the entire fee, which represents about 80 percent of undergraduates who receive financial aid. All other financial aid recipients will be offered loans and employment to offset the fee increase.

As a resource for students, parents and the public, the CSU is providing information about fees and financial aid on the CSU Budget Central website.

The CSU Trustees voted 17 to 2 in favor of the fee increase with Lt. Governor John Garamendi and student trustee Curtis Grima casting dissenting votes.

The screenwriter of "StarTrek: The Next Generation" and the 1978 animated film "The Lord of the Rings" will be at Cal State University San Bernardino on Thursday to discuss his work.

Peter S. Beagle will be at Cal State's Pfau Library at 7 p.m. in room PL-4005.

Beagle is best known as the author of "The Last Unicorn," as well as a screenwriter for the 1978 Ralph Bakshi animated film, "The Lord of the Rings," university officials said.

He has received many honors, including the Hugo Award, and the Inkpot Award in 2006, the Nebula Award and the Washington Science Fiction Association's Small Press Award in 2007.

His appearance will include a lecture, a question-and-answer period and he will sign autographs.

The event is open to the public and is free. Parking is $5.

melissa.pinion-whitt@inlandnewspapers.com

The kerfuffle over what to name Grand Terrace's new high school is over, the campus will be called Grand Terrace High School at the Ray Abril Junior Education Complex.

Stephen Wall, The Sun's Grand Terrace reporter tells me that the Colton Joint Unified School District board's decision to change the high school name has defused the dissatisfaction that was aroused among some Grand Terrace residents when the campus - set to be Grand Terrace's first high school - was going to be named after Abril, a retired school board member, instead of the city.

Third Ward Councilman Tobin Brinker, also a former Colton Joint Unified board member, sided with Grand Terrace parents. He said the campus should be named after the city and that parents who wanted their objections to be heard should pressure the district by refusing to allow their children to participate in state-issued standardized tests.

Students are now being encouraged to take the tests, Wall informs me.

Third Ward Councilman Tobin Brinker says he as asking parents who are upset about the name of a nearby school district's new high school should make their voices heard by refusing to allow their children to take standardized tests.

Brinker's gambit follows the Colton Joint Unified School District's decision to name a new school within the city of Grand Terrace in honor of retired school board member Ray Abril. Many parents whose children would attend the new school wanted the campus to be named Grand Terrace High School.

If parents do as Brinker recommends, and their children do not take the state-issued STAR tests, the district's overall performance on the standardized tests could suffer. Accordingly, the threat of parents refusing to let their children take the tests could create pressure for the board to reconsider the new high school's name.

"(It) lets them feel they have something they can do," Brinker said in a telephone interview.

"My hope is they'll (school board members) make this decision not because of the pressure, but because it's the right thing to do," he also said.

Brinker is a former Colton Joint Unified board member and a Rialto Unified School District teacher. Some families in southern San Bernardino send their children to schools in that district.

School district spokeswoman Katie Orloff said the school board has scheduled another discussion on the new high school's name for its Thursday meeting.

The campus is under construction, Brinker has proposed that the district could please the parents and honor Abril by naming a prominent structure on the high school in Abril's honor.