On November 30th, Cal State Long Beach’s Associated Students Inc. Senate proposed an assembly bill to grant students an 11-month warning before passing tuition increases.
The Assembly Bill 970, known as the Working Family Student Fee Transparency and Accountability Act, aims to provide students enough time to financially adjust to tuition increases.
The proposal of AB-970 comes just days after students requested a class action lawsuit against the University of California system for raising tuition costs after instituting them.
ASI's resolution will be sent to the California State University Chancellor's office, assembly members and Gov. Jerry Brown.
According to Steve Lopez, ASI commissioner, the Senate needs more CSU campuses to pass similar resolutions in order for the bill to even be considered.
"They’re not even evaluating it as of now, but if we can get more students to oppose the tuition increases, it will be enough to get people talking and deliberate,” Lopez said.
The CSU Chancellor's office currently opposes AB-970 because it believes an 11-month warning is just unrealistic.
“You know, we’re not the bad guys here. We don’t enjoy making these decisions, but somebody has to, and if students really want change, they should take it up with government,” CSU Chancellor’s employee Pat Voss said.
It remains to be seen what this proposal will mean for students. For now, ASI will continue to support the bill and petition the warning period for next spring.