Beginning in the fall of 2006 Sacramento State students may be paying an extra 8 percent, or about $120, in tuition each semester because of a California State University Board of Trustees vote Thursday.

“Our fight really doesn’t stop here ?” this is the beginning of the process,” said Curtis Grima, secretary of state for Associated Students Inc.

At the student association meeting prior to the trustee vote, Grima said that tensions ran high and that students were crying and yelling about the looming increase.

To confirm the sixth fee hike in five years, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger must approve the budget in July 2006.

The trustee budget meeting, held in Long Beach, passed a 10 percent graduate fee increase in addition to an 8 percent undergraduate and credential fee increase that would hike tuition fees $245 from $3,072 to $3,317 for more than 400,000 students at California State Universities.

During the past ten years, CSU fees have gone up almost 40 percent.

Corey Jackson, the California State Student Association delegate, was the only member out of 14 to vote “no” on the budget, calling it a tax on students.

Students from all 23 CSUs turned out in high numbers and impacted Jackson’s vote to give a firm no on the 8 percent increase, Grima said.

Three Sac State students, including ASI Director of Business Angela Arriola and ASI Chief of Staff Noemi Beas, were present for the fee verdict.

Beas said that the hundreds of students that came out in support for Jackson surprised her.

“It was a good thing to know that all the CSU campuses were working as one cohesive unit,” Beas said.

Eight students addressed the board about the issue telling members to take into consideration student living and book expenses before escalating fees once more, Beas said.

“It’s really hard because students have to find good paying jobs,” Beas said. Minimum wage jobs won’t cut it anymore.

Students are investing in themselves, which is a positive thing, but the amount of debt that students are accumulating is too much, Beas said.

The fee increase was in line with an agreement made between Schwarzenegger, the CSU and the University of California in May 2004 to implement the increases for three consecutive years.

The governor is allowing the CSU campuses to grow by 2.5 percent a year and get 3 percent more funding if they agree to the continual hike.

The CSU budget was increased by $235.5 million to $2.7 billion and will allow approximately 10,000 more students into the system.

The budget plan also includes increases in the salary of 23 campus presidents, boosts in 26 executive salaries and a hike in salary for CSU Chancellor Charles Reed by $45,808 to $362,500.

“The state is facing a tough budget environment, so we appreciate the governor’s compact, which will help offset the $500 million cut the CSU experienced during 2002-05,” said Richard West, executive vice chancellor and chief financial officer.

However, the 2006-07 budget still falls short of the total CSU deficit of $1 billion. Grima said that while the passage of the fee increase serves a blow to students, this is just the beginning of the state budget process.

Jessica Weidling can be reached at [email protected]