State Assembly cuts fees for graduate students 5 percent

Beginning next academic year, graduate students can breathe a sigh of relief knowing their tuition will be five percent lower.

The decision, made by the state Assembly, would lower grad students' fees to the same amount paid by undergraduates.

The bill, sponsored by the University of California and the California State Student Association is meant to lessen graduate student debt, which is too high at the graduate level, according to CSSA.

"We think that lessening student debt, even by five percent, is a worthwhile investment," said Susan Cusack, legislative and public relations coordinator for CSSA.

Cusack said one of CSSA's main motivations for the five percent rollback is to increase the number of Californians with advanced degrees in order to arm the state with a highly-skilled work force.

Following a decision made in 1997 to decrease undergraduate fees by five percent, Governor Pete Wilson signed the bill to lower graduate fees three weeks ago.

The five percent rollback will affect all CSU campuses indefinitely. The UC board of regents will decide if the fee rollback is applicable for their system as well.

The $4 million for CSU and $3 million for UC needed for the fee rollback will come from the UC and CSU general funds for the 1999-2000 fiscal year in order to fully reimburse those systems.