10:00am | The Board of Trustees for the California State University system and its 23 statewide campuses approved a 5% tuition increase for the Spring 2011 semester, and a 10% tuition increase for the 2011-12 school year that will go into effect next Fall.

Earlier this year, the board had heard from state legislators that tuition increases may not be necessary as the California budget was expected to return CSU funding to pre-recession levels. The CSU received a nearly $200 million funding increase over the previous year but it was still not enough to cover what was needed. More than $100 million of that came from one-time Federal stimulus funds that will not be available next year.

This made the tuition increases necessary, a CSU statement said yesterday. Student Trustee Nicole Anderson was the only committee member to vote against the tuition increases.

“While we appreciate the funding that we did receive in this year’s budget, the reality is our state support is roughly the same as it was five years ago and we have 25,000 more students,” said Dr. Benjamin F. Quillian, CSU executive vice chancellor for business and finance.  “These students will be on our campuses long after this one-time funding has been exhausted, and we have to ensure that we have the ongoing resources to support them.”

Student protests took place yesterday at the CSU headquarters in downtown Long Beach, and more are expected today. A CSU press release points out that financial aid will cover about 180,000 students for the planned tuition increases, which amount to an estimated $105 and $444 for this Spring semester and next school year, respectively.

The committee will request that the cash-strapped state legislature buyout the proposed 2011-12 tuition increase, but even by the most optimistic standards this scenario seems unlikely.

“At this point, we can be optimistic,” CSU spokesperson Mike Uhlenkamp told the Long Beach Post last week.