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Why Another Fee Increase?
Over the last several years, Cal Poly has experienced funding shortfalls that equate to approximately $25 million, with 8.1 Million occurring since Spring 2008. An increase in the college-based fee would help us to minimize the negative impacts of budget reductions and keep our learn-by-doing emphasis strong.
How Have We Handled Recent Budget Cuts?
- Faculty and staff reductions.
- Increased class sizes.
- Reduced travel and supply budgets.
- Replaced State funds with gift and/or College-Based Fee funds.
- Increased grant support for faculty applied research that pays for part of their salaries
What Are the Benefits Of The Fee Increase?
Student learning and success are the original and continuing purposes of Cal Poly’s college-based fee and the exclusive motivations for the proposed increase. Examples of opportunities that will be made possible with the fee include:
- Scheduling of classes needed to promote timely progress to graduation.
- Increased graduation rates with less time to graduation.
- Quality degree programs with uncommon learn by doing opportunities that characterize a Cal Poly education.
- Increased recruitment and retention of faculty members and corresponding student access to the faculty.
- Student-faculty research collaborations and project-based learning.
- Acquisition of sophisticated equipment and instrumentation.
How Can We Eliminate Barriers To Timely Graduation?
Cal Poly is committed to a plan that will allow students entering in Fall 2009 to graduate in 4 or 5 years (depending on their degree program) by ensuring that courses are offered that will assist students’ progress to degree. Students will however need to commit to following their curriculum requirements and completing courses successfully. If followed, this approach will reduce the time to graduation for most students, resulting in significant educational cost savings.
What Happens by Not Raising The College-Based Fees?
All colleges would need to do some or all of the following:
- Loss of faculty positions – primarily lecturers.
- Reduction in course offerings.
- Reduction of funds for student and faculty special projects
- Reduction of general operation expenses that support college services resulting in reduction or elimination of availability – for the CAED this means the Support Shop, Photo Lab, Multi-Resource Center, Technology support staff
- Reduction in acquisition or maintenance of technology and equipment
How Can Students Provide Input on the Proposal?
- University Open Forums.
- CAED Dean’s meetings with Student Council and CBF Committees.
- Department “Town Hall” meetings
- Department classroom discussions
- University and CAED and Department web sites
- March 11 & 12 student advisory vote via Cal Poly Portal.
- The University Goal is to reach at least 38% of all students as evidenced by the student advisory vote turnout required.
If The Fee Increase Passes…
The colleges and administrative areas will need to continue to operate with reduced costs since the revenue from the fee increase will not completely restore the shortfalls or fund the loss of spending power in the first years. At the end of the three year phase in of the fee increase, the combination of remaining state funds and new College Based Fees will help restore the University's total funding to the equivalent of pre 2002 funding per student, adjusted for inflation.
Recommendations on how new College-Based Fee revenues are to be allocated within each department/college will continue to be sought via the same student fee committee process as currently used.
How Do Cal Poly Fees Compare With Other Public University Fees?
One looked at to determine the proposed fee increase level is that of fees/tuition at other universities similar to Cal Poly. We often compare Cal Poly to campuses within the University of California system and their total student fees, such as U.C., Irvine - $7,556, U.C., Santa Cruz - $8,286, U.C. Santa Barbara - $8,573, U.C., Davis - $8,635, and U.C., San Diego - $8,911.
When comparing Cal Poly’s current fees with the Public "Tech" Colleges group as defined by U.S. News & World Report, excluding other CSU campuses, Cal Poly’s undergraduate fees are $1,864 below the average and $7,339 below the high of $12,382.
U.S. News & World Report Public “Tech” Colleges
| Institution | Tuition/Fees |
|---|---|
| Southern Polytechnic State University | $4,232 |
| CUNY–New York City College of Technology | $4,289 |
| Louisiana Tech University | $4,458 |
| Cal Poly | $5,043 |
| Tennessee Technological University | $5,165 |
| Georgia Institute of Technology | $5,272 |
| SUNY Institute of Technology-Utica/Rome | $5,317 |
| Arkansas Tech University | $5,430 |
| SUNY College of Technology – Alfred | $5,498 |
| SUNY College of Technology – Delhi | $5,648 |
| Montana Tech of the University of Montana | $5,712 |
| Oregon Institute of Technology | $6,093 |
| South Dakota School of Mines & Technology | $6,430 |
| Texas Tech University | $6,783 |
| West Virginia University Institute of Technology | $7,523 |
| Virginia Tech | $8,198 |
| Missouri University of Science & Technology | $8,498 |
| Vermont Technical College | $9,984 |
| Michigan Technological University | $11,206 |
| Pennsylvania College of Technology | $11,790 |
| New Jersey Institute of Technology | $12,382 |
When comparing Cal Poly’s current undergraduate fees with the comparison group used by the Integrated Post secondary Education Data System (IPEDS), excluding other CSU campuses, Cal Poly’s undergraduate fees of $5,043 are $2,894 below the high of $7,937 and $682 below the average of $5,725.
IPEDS Default Comparison Group – 2008-09 Data
| Institution | Tuition/Fees |
|---|---|
| University of North Florida (Jacksonville) | $3,775 |
| The U of Texas-Pan American (Edinburg) | $3,899 |
| Kennesaw State U (Kennesaw, GA) | $4,144 |
| CUNY Baruch College (New York, NY) | $4,320 |
| CUNY Hunter College (New York, NY) | $4,349 |
| CUNY Queens College (Flushing, NY) | $4,377 |
| Boise State University | $4,632 |
| Cal Poly | $5,043 |
| Troy University (Troy, AL) | $5,590 |
| U of Maryland – University College | $5,640 |
| Arizona State U – West Campus (Glendale) | $5,659 |
| Middle Tennessee State U (Murfreesboro) | $5,803 |
| Sam Houston State U (Huntsville, TX) | $5,910 |
| Missouri State University (Springfield) | $6,256 |
| Western Kentucky U (Bowling Green) | $6,930 |
| James Madison U (Harrisonburg, VA) | $6,964 |
| Texas State University – San Marcos | $6,994 |
| The University of Texas at San Antonio | $7,100 |
| Towson University (Towson, MD) | $7,314 |
| Grand Valley State U (Allendale, MI) | $7,600 |
| Eastern Michigan University (Ypsilanti) | $7,937 |
An increase in the college-based fee will put each academic unit in a better position to continue its academic distinction and thereby contribute to the growing national reputation of Cal Poly and the enduring value of a Cal Poly diploma.