The fear is that increased demand from transfer students and stagnant funding to increase overall enrollment will squeeze out new freshmen, creating a potential “train wreck” ahead, Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White said.
“We do have a growing mismatch, and I think the executive branch and the three systems will have to act together,” White said.
Board of Trustees Chairman Lou Monville said the model for the Cal State system could change.
“I have a core concern that this could fundamentally change our mission under the Master Plan (for Higher Education) to take the top one-third of the high school graduating class,” Monville said.
In 2013, about 56,565 community college students transferred to Cal State campuses, including 1,400 with the associate degrees for transfer.
The board is expected to finalize a budget plan at the November meeting.
Board members also received an update on the status of so-called student success fees, adopted by many campuses to pay for a variety of services but criticized as a sneaky attempt to get around tuition hikes.
So far, 12 campuses have adopted the fees, which range from $35 annually per student at Cal State Dominguez Hills (that fee is scheduled to incrementally increase to $560 a year) to $780 at the San Luis Obispo campus.
California lawmakers recently imposed a moratorium, ordering that no new fees be approved on campuses before Jan. 1, 2016, and requiring White to set up a committee to review student fee policies and recommend changes.
Proposed legislation would also provide more oversight of the approval process.
Robert DeWitz, a psychology student at Dominguez Hills, urged trustees to give students more say.
“Ideally, when they look at policy revisions regarding the fees, they’ll consider the impact on students financially and democratically,” DeWitz said.
The chancellor established an online forum for public comment on the fees.
©2014 the Los Angeles Times. Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com. Distributed by MCT Information Services
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