Decision in Long Beach: State University Tuitions to Rocket Upward

How's this for your cost of living adjustment? The board of trustees for California's state university system voted today in Long Beach to increase student tuition by 20 percent -- even though the fees had been raised by 10 percent only two months ago. In addition, out-of-state tuition will rise almost $1,000, while enrollments have already been frozen. The votes came on a package of proposals designed to meet a $584 million budget shortfall faced by the system for 2009-2010.

The votes, greeted by shouts of "Shame on you!" from students and other spectators, according to City News Service, were taken at Cal State Long Beach's Glenn S. Dumke Auditorium.

California State University Chancellor Charles Reed is also calling on the 47,000 employees at the system's 23 campuses  to take two unpaid days off each month and, according to the Long Beach Press-Telegram, cut their wages by 10 percent -- proposals that the workers must approve through a union vote. Reed has promised that about 187,000 students from low to moderate income families will be exempt from the tuition raises and that their fees will be paid for by today's approved increases.