Tuition fees throughout California State Universities are at an all-time high, yet CSU funding from the state remains at the same level from the late 1990s. The success of the “Take a Stand” petition could help increase CSUB programs as well as cut down on the time students spend in school to help increase graduation rates.

Ray Finnell, head of California State University, Bakersfield’s largest staff union, is one person who is helping to promote the petition.  CSUEU, the California State University Employees Union, is circulating the petition and will present signed copies to the CSU Board of Trustees.

“The petition requests that more money be distributed through the campuses and academic programs,” Finnell said.

Tuition levels cannot be raised without jeopardizing state-allocated funding, but all CSUs, as a result of the petition, could receive additional funding for academic programs.

In November 2013, the Board of Trustees asked for an extra $237 million to be allocated on top of the current year’s funding. Governor Jerry Brown proposed an additional $145 million in January of this year. The staff unions from every CSU have been putting pressure on the Board of Trustees and the Chancellor, who have, in turn, been putting pressure on the legislature and the governor to finalize the budget in their favor.

The amount of money that each CSU campus will receive begins by being based off of full-time equivalent students. FTES are calculated by how many part-time students equal one full time student and by how many single full-time students are enrolled.

Allocations will, of course, factor in things like graduation rates as well. CSUB represents between 2% to 2.2% of total FTES through CSUs. This would mean that CSUB could receive 2.2% of the finalized budget for our academic programs.

Melanie Sisco, a junior nursing student, was excited to learn about what the petition is hoping to accomplish.

“I think that’s great,” Sisco said. “For students that don’t get any financial support it could ease their work load. More students could possibly get aid which could help lower the amount of loans they have to take out.”

The CSUEU is seeking 20,000 signatures statewide for the petition and will be presented to the  Board of Trustees on May 20. The goal for CSUB  is 343 signatures from students, staff, faculty and the community.

“We plan on doing some tabling in the quad and other popular campus areas in order to help get the rest of the signatures we need,” Finnell said.

There is a chance that if the process goes quickly that CSUs will receive additional money for Fall quarter. However, there is so much that goes on behind the scenes that the public does not know about that a budget allocation could not be set for several more months.

“We may see some money in the Fall; realistically, probably not until January 2015,” Finnell said.

There is still a chance to ‘Take a Stand’ and sign the petition before it’s too late!