California State University's governing board voted Wednesday to approve the first tuition increase in six years at its 23 campuses.
The board of trustees of the nation's largest public university system voted 11-8 to boost annual tuition by $270 starting in the 2017-18 school year. Tuition had been $5,472 a year.
Chancellor Timothy White had urged the trustees to approve the increase, saying the system needs to hire more faculty and add more classes to accommodate growing enrollment and insufficient state funding.
"I don't bring this forward with an ounce of joy, I bring it out of necessity," White told the board, which held its meeting at his office in Long Beach.
Several students spoke out against the increase before the vote, saying that $270 might not seem like a lot but it was to students struggling to study as they work full time and also pay for housing, food and books.
The university system says nearly 63 percent of undergraduate students have their tuition fully covered by financial aid and would not be affected by the increase.
