CENTRAL COAST, Calif. -- Students argue the CSU Board Of Trustee's proposed "graduation incentive" fees would threaten their ability to keep their financial aid.
Part of the problem is students are having difficulty getting the courses they need to finish their degrees.
Students need to take at least 12 units a semester to get financial aid, so if they can't get into their required courses they'll take classes they don't need just to keep it.
"All my non-engineering classes, I got into with no trouble but my engineering classes are like over-flowing so I took a priority last quarter and still didn't get into the class I wanted," says Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Engineering Major Travis Cox.
It's a tale all too common for college students across the Central Coast and California.
Students can't get the classes they need toward their degrees but they still need to take at least 12 units a semester to keep their full financial aid. Students who take less than 12 units would get less financial aid.
"So people will go out of their way to take ridiculous courses that don't even apply to their majors," says Cal Poly San Luis Obispo sophomore Sean Day.
Just like engineering major Travis Cox, who relies on the Federal Stafford Loan.
"I'm currently enrolled in dance and bowling just 'cause I couldn't get enough units otherwise," says Cox.
"My roommate last year did that," says Day. "He had to take History and some Agriculture class but he was a Bio Chem major. He just needed to keep his financial aid."
If the CSU Board of Trustees passes the graduation incentive fees, which would penalize students for taking extra units they don't need, Cox says it would make graduating even harder.
"It's not fun," says Cox. "I rather just have four years and be done."
The Chancellor's office says the proposed fees are meant to free up 32,000 class seats and generated about $30 million in revenue a year.
