CSU alumnus and new Chancellor Timothy P. White discussed plans to better the school system at a press conference last Wednesday at the CSU office in Long Beach. White addressed how the budget will affect students and how he hopes to solve the high demand for services with finite budgetary limitation on the 23 campuses.
White said one of the major challenges the campuses are facing is the capacity to deliver enough of the necessary classes students need in order to graduate on time.
“It’s one thing to be admitted to one of our campuses,” White said. “But it’s kind of a false access if once you’re admitted you can’t find the classes you need or the advice you need in a timely way to make progress toward a degree.”
White is going to solve this problem by using the allocated $10 million from Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed investment budget to add more online classes. By using technology where it’s most useful and creating a fusion between faculty, students and the technological interface, White hopes students will be able to get into the classes they need without having to delay their education.
With Brown’s proposed budget increase of $125.1 million for the CSU system, White has no plan for a tuition increase in the next few years. Brown said this will give students time to plan for educational expenses and for the time being, they won’t have to worry about putting school on a hiatus because they can’t afford it.
“The biggest thing each individual student will feel is not having to write a bigger check,” White said. “That’s very real for them and their families… The goal is not to raise tuition for quite some time now.”
While he is chancellor, White hopes to give back to California and create more opportunities for students and their families. He feels there is no reason why a person’s background should interfere with earning a degree.
“The driving force for me to have accepted the appointment as chancellor is to think of ways in which we can innovate and do our job better,” White said. “Going forward in the realities of our time as well as meeting the need for our students and the communities in which they came from.”
White, a former student of Fresno State and Cal State Hayward (now East Bay), stressed the importance of maintaining a good work ethic as a student. He said he owes the skills he has today to the activities he took part in as an undergraduate student.
“It’s really about setting goals and helping people shape those goals and believe in them and own them and working day and night to be successful,” White said. “When you fail, continue to not give up and to pursue it.”
