Cal State Long Beach students will pay an additional $16 per semester in Associated Students Inc. fees beginning in fall.
In the past two days, more than 5,000 students voted on whether to raise the ASI fee from $44 per semester to $60. More than 56 percent of the votes were in favor of the fee increase.
ASI Chief of Staff Joseph Phillips said he is excited that the fee passed.
“When we were talking to students about it, the feedback was generally favorable,” Phillips said. “This will greatly help our plans.”
The $16 increase will provide an additional $1.2 million annually.
Phillips said the additional funding generated from the fee increase could be used to fund study abroad grants, open a 24-hour study center on campus and for renovations to the Isabel Patterson Child Development Center and Soroptimist House, among other things.
ASI Executive Director Richard Haller said he was glad it passed but not necessarily shocked by the results.
“I would say I was surprised and thankful that [the results] weren’t neck and neck, but it was a pretty good margin in support of the fee,” Haller said. “It’s a big relief.”