Cal State Bakersfield’s Fall 2024 Budget Open Forum was hosted on Oct 14. 2024 by Thom Davis, vice president and chief financial officer, and Dr. Di Wu, Chair of the academic senate budget and planning committee.
The budget forum allowed students, staff and faculty to see exactly where CSUB’s budget is going as well as how it will be put towards operations and upkeep on campus.
Topics discussed included where CSUB’s funding is coming from, what’s happening to students’ tuition, and how faculty and staff are taking the request to take on more responsibility to fill in for more classes.
Newly elected President Vernon B. Harper Jr. explained what would be done to offset the tuition hike as agreed upon by the CSU Board of Trustees. Harper said that despite the hike, every third dollar would be returned to the students in the form of grants and scholarships.
“We wanna first tell our students how much we care and that we are aware of inflation, but the board of trustees and the student grants approve the tuition increase are there to help offset the cost for our students. The storm eventually subsides and we will see revenue go up,” said Harper.
Faculty that attended showed disapproval of the plan, stating that it is unreliable and will result in students being priced and classes being cut due to a lack of students. Others stated that the lack of students had affected the security of their jobs, with teachers or even chair officers having to make up some classes they may have limited information on just to avoid the course being canceled.
“When a series of courses experiences a vacancy it leaves a hole in education and creates a vacuum that requires another set of educators to take over and help with those positions. We are going to have to stick with that at least for just a little while. I understand that the issue for faculty hiring is that it takes longer but we have done it before and we will be fine,” said Harper.
Harper also said that another meeting will be in the works towards November with a more detailed report for others to share with their department chairs.
