The California State University Board of Trustees has proposed a new fee that could double the price of tuition for all CSU graduate students enrolled in Master of Business Association programs.

According to a survey by the Sacramento State Office of Institutional Research, MBA tuition fees are currently $1,383 per semester for students taking zero to six units and $2,100 for students taking seven units or more.

The proposed fee increase would add an additional $210 per unit.

Sac State Associated Students Inc. board of directors is officially against the increase.

According to recently approved legislation, ASI is “opposing the proposed implementation of a differential fee…on behalf of the students at CSUS.”

Secretary of State Affairs Roberto Torres and Graduate Director Jensen Kile wrote the legislation.

Kile said he sent mass e-mails to MBA students to get their opinion on the possible fee increase. He said most students were either against the increase or wished to have more information.

Torres said the passing of the legislation will help the opposition greatly.

“It will now allow me…to go to the California State Student Association and say that Sac State is opposed to the report because it does not address student concerns,” Torres said.

Student representatives from all 23 CSU campuses meet to discuss student issues at CSSA meetings.

The next meeting will be held today and Thursday on the CSU Northridge campus.

“Now we’re going to push to get another resolution opposing (the fee) in CSSA,” Torres said.

Torres said he believes an opposition from CSSA will have more influence in canceling the proposed fee because it acts as the voice of all 23 CSU campuses.

“This is a (student) issue, not just a Sac State issue,” he said.

According to the ASI legislation, Sac State students were concerned about the business college maintaining its “accreditation.”

Sac State’s business school is currently accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. There are 457 institutions in the US, including the University of California, Davis and CSU Chico, that are are currently accredited by AACSB. Kile said businesses are more interested in hiring students with a degree from an accredited school because it betters the company’s reputation.

Most online business schools are not accredited, Kile said.

Chiang Wang, the interim associate dean for graduate students in the College of Business Administration, said accreditation is becoming increasingly more difficult to maintain.

“I see a need for extra revenues to help the school maintain accreditation,” Wang said.

Wang said he believes extra revenue might have to come in the form of increased student fees.

Sac State has to meet certain procedural standards to remain accredited by the AACSB, Wang said.

According to the AACSB website, one of the standards includes the need to employ a certain amount of full-time faculty members.

Wang said it has become increasingly difficult to recruit faculty due to a lack of funds within the Sac State MBA program. He said other business colleges offer higher wages for their employees.

According to a 2006-07 report by the AACSB, the national mean of a new doctorate salary in the area of finance is $118,000.

Wang said the most Sac State can currently offer recruits is roughly $80,000.

Wang said he was still “apprehensive about the increase.”

“It will have an impact on the access (of coming to Sac State),” he said. “For non-Californian students…it will become a very high cost.”

Out-of-state students already pay an extra $339 per unit because they are not residents of California.

Kile said Sac State students are also concerned about allocation of the funds from the fee.

According to Wang, 25 percent of revenue from the proposed fee would go toward financial aid for all CSU MBA students.

Kile said 25 percent isn’t significant because a larger number, 33 percent of Sac State MBA students need financial aid.

“(The fee) wouldn’t adequately replenish the needs that would be created,” Kile said.

Graduate student Glen Zuffelato said he is upset about the possibility of an increase.

“I cannot fathom how a state university can arbitrarily raise course fees 50 to 100 percent,” Zuffelato said in an e-mail interview. “Is this not regulated? I cannot help but be skeptical when suddenly informed that our accreditation is at stake and fees may be doubled to prevent this.”

Wang said current MBA students would not be affected by a fee increase. Currently there are between 150 and 200 students in the Sac State MBA program.

“To educate our students by offering a high quality program and help them get a new job, we have to maintain AACSB accreditation,” Wang said, “If you want to be part of a special group…you have to pay the price.”

Andres Perez can be reached at [email protected].