State Auditor finds CSU’s stashed away $1.5 billion and raised tuition

SACRAMENTO – Today, Assemblymember Rudy Salas (D-Bakersfield), Chairman of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC), issued the following statement in response to the California State University (CSU) Audit:

“As students continue to struggle with the burden of rapidly growing student loan debt, rising tuition and fees, and high costs of living, we must ensure that our universities are doing everything they can to help students get an education without burying them in debt for years to come,” said Chairman Salas. “The Joint Legislative Audit Committee will look closely at and follow up on the findings from the CSU audit to provide much-needed oversight and transparency to help our financially strapped and overburdened students.”

As part of this audit, the California State Auditor visited the CSU Office of the Chancellor (Chancellor’s Office) and four campuses. They examined two of CSU’s financial practices that have the potential to negatively affect students: its accumulation of surplus revenue from tuition and other sources and its focus on building new parking facilities rather than on implementing other transportation options.

“As of June 30, 2018, CSU had accumulated a surplus of more than $1.5 billion, which consisted primarily of unspent tuition revenue. During the same decade that this surplus was growing, the annual tuition for students attending CSU campuses nearly doubled, and the State increased annual appropriations to CSU as a result of additional voter-approved taxes,” according to the State Auditor’s report.

In addition, the report states that in relation to parking permits, “The campuses we visited—Fullerton, Channel Islands, Sacramento State, and San Diego State—have generally relied on building additional parking facilities to address growing demand due to increasing enrollment. Campuses often pass the resulting building and maintenance costs on to students, many of whom pay increased sums for parking permits but experience little or no improvement in parking availability.

The full audit report can be found here .

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Assemblymember Salas represents part of the City of Bakersfield, the cities of Arvin, Hanford, Corcoran, Delano, Lemoore, McFarland, Shafter, Wasco, and the communities of Armona, Avenal, Buttonwillow, Home Garden, Kettleman City, Lamont, Lost Hills, Stratford and Weedpatch.