Students, faculty, and administrators gathered Thursday for Sacramento State President Robert Nelsen’s annual spring address, in which Nelsen covered several topics including the challenges facing the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the impact of the governor’s proposed 2018-2019 budget and the development of the university’s new strategic plan.

According to Nelsen, the California Master Plan for Higher Education, created in 1960, is outdated and imperfect. While the California State University system is supposed to admit the top third of all high school graduates, many universities, including Sac State, cannot admit all the qualified students who apply.

Nelsen noted that the Master Plan must be revisited and modernized in order to make higher education available to all students.

“The California Master Plan for Higher Education may be broken but our mission to serve students, to help students rise up economically, to serve underrepresented minorities, to close the achievement gap, and to create California’s workforce — to educate society — will never change,” Nelsen said.

In addition to the Master Plan, Nelsen discussed his displeasure toward the governor’s proposed budget for 2018-2019. According to Nelsen, the proposal suggested $10 million less than what the governor’s administration led the Chancellor’s Office and Board of Trustees to believe was coming just a few weeks prior — a gap which could see tuition raised for CSU students by $228 per semester.

“The State of California is clearly divesting from its sacred responsibility to educate its populace,” Nelsen said.

Associated Students, Inc. President Mia Kagianas said that ASI would be lobbying to close the funding gap.

“You can bet that Associated Students Inc. at Sacramento State will, yet again, step up to plate alongside the California State Student Association to ensure that higher education is not a small red-line item on budget or a cash cow to bet against the family farm,” Kagianas said. “It is not only imperative to the well-being of California, but it is a tool to help real people pursue a higher quality of life.”

Kagianas delivered a speech about students, community and ASI’s commitment to being “caring people caring for other people.”

“We invest the time into what we value and what we value is the student experience,” Kagianas said.