Students call for fee freeze

Times-Herald staff report
Vallejo Times-Herald
Nov 17, 2007

Students fed up with rising tuition at public universities have filed a ballot initiative to freeze fees at University of California and California State University campuses.

If qualified for the November 2008 ballot, the initiative would ask voters to freeze tuition fees at public universities for five years and approve a 1 percent tax on millionaires' income over $1 million to support universities.

Fees have nearly doubled at UC and CSU schools in the past six years.

Students and families filed the initiative Wednesday with the Attorney General's Office.

Under the banner of Students and Families for Tuition Relief Now, the group is organizing on public campuses across the state and has launched a Web site.

Organizers say a "student-run" ballot initiative is a first in California politics. "What we lack in money we make up in heart and a sophisticated field operation," said campaign director Chris Vaeth.