Courts uphold CSU fee hike

A court ruling made today will allow the nation's largest public university system to increase fees for summer course offerings.

The summer fee will cost students 40% more to take a summer class than in the Fall or Spring.

A San Francisco-based law firm filed a lawsuit in April against the California State University system, alleging that mandated fee increases for summer school courses are a violation of state law. Specifically, it challenged the legality of CSU's decision to replace state-subsidized classes with "self-support sessions" - courses students must pay an extra fee for.

The Superior Court of California today ruled in favor of the 23-campus system.

From the CSU press release:

A ruling today in a case heard in Superior Court in Alameda County will allow the California State University to move forward with its plans to offer self-support summer sessions. At issue in the lawsuit was the plantiff's assertion that self-support summer classes "supplant" or replace classes that are offered in a state-support session.

"We appreciate the court's recognition that allowing the CSU to offer self-support summer classes is the best way to serve students during these times of severe budget cuts," said CSU General Counsel Christine Helwick. "Most of our campuses will provide courses on a self-support basis for those wishing to continue their studies during the summer."

Petitioners from Cal State East Bay, Los Angeles, San Marcos and Stanislaus sought to require the CSU to reinstate state-supported summer sessions which would have caused campuses to redirect funding from the regular academic year where the most students are enrolled.

Over the past two years, the CSU saw $625 million cut from its budget. To manage this unprecedented fiscal crisis, the CSU implemented a plan requiring employee furloughs and layoffs, enrollment cuts, campus budget cuts and fee increases. Rather than cut enrollment for fall 2010 even further, most CSU campuses plan to offer self-support summer sessions instead of using limited funds for a state-supported summer session.

The elimination of state-supported summer and intersession courses, both of which have much lower enrollments than the regular academic term, was one of the most reasonable options campuses could implement to meet the goal of educating as many students as possible with fewer resources.