My personal stance on the matter is that while the goal of this grant may be noble, its

execution is misguided. In my opinion, placing the entirety of the responsibility of

diversification on out-of-state students who already pay around double in-state tuition is
ridiculous. Funding could either be appropriated from other existing sources of revenue or
could be levied on the entire student body. That being said, I don't really care what your stance
is on the proposal. I encourage you to do your own research, and draw your own conclusions.
Civic participation is instrumental in any functioning society, and is especially important when
regarding issues as impactful as a large tuition increase.

Cal Poly currently serves as the most expensive California public university for low-income
students, costing $3,690 in additional fees per year even after implementation of the maximum
financial aidpackage1 ,and

A grant for low-income students is necessary, as Cal Poly has passed many fees over the years
that did not include financial aid support, and

The Cal Poly Office of Diversity and Inclusion is proposing a Cal Poly Opportunity Fee (CPOF) of
$8,040 for each Non-Resident student per year at full implementation, and

The Objective Statement states, “the primary purpose of the proposed [Cal Poly Opportunity
Fee] is to provide increased access and retention of California low-income students by providing
enhanced financial aid support through the Cal Poly Opportunity Grant Program,”1 and

Ensuring low income students can attend and afford Cal Poly helps make sure that all possible
students, regardless of income, are able to attend Cal Poly while fostering a more diverse
community, and

42.5% of the CPOF would go to the proposed Cal Poly Opportunity Grant (CPOG) for low-
income students, 21.25% would go to support services for students receiving the CPOG, 21.25%
would go to Cal Poly, and 15% would go to the Chancellor’s office1, and

While Cal Poly fees in the past have not designated a percentage of funds to the Cal Poly
general fund or to the CSU Chancellor’s Office and instead all revenue was designated toward
fee-specific goals, the current proposal designates 21.25% of CPOF revenue to the Cal Poly
general fund and 15% to the CSU Chancellor’s Office, and

Students already contribute to the Cal Poly General Fund through payment of tuition, and thus
should not be required to pay additional money into the general fund through a fee designed
and marketed as a source of support for low-income students, and

While the CPOF is marketed as benefitting low-income Cal Poly students, these designations
send a combined 36.25% of CPOF funds to resources that do not specifically relate to CPOG
recipients1, and
Out Of State Average Peer Reviewed The Welfare Effects

Futuros Model - Conclusion Peer Reviewed Check out the model at College of the Ozarks in
Missouri...those kids work for their education and pay nothing.

Mustang News February 13

Cal Poly administration has proposed an increase in incoming out-of-state students’ fees to
fund a grant to help incoming low-income California students.

The Cal Poly Opportunity Grant (CPOG) will help pay Cal Poly fees for incoming California-
resident students who meet specific low-income qualifications.

To accumulate the money needed to sustain this grant, Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong
proposed the Cal Poly Opportunity Fee (CPOF) to be applied to incoming out-of-state students.

The fee would begin as $2,010 per year for out-of-state students, either starting their freshman
year or transferring to Cal Poly in Fall 2018. The fee would then increase by that amount for
each new year. Freshmen starting in Fall 2019 would pay $4,020 per year and freshmen starting
in 2020 would pay $6,030 per year. Students starting in 2021 and beyond would pay $8,040 per
year.

The Challenges
 Lack of diversity: Learn by Doing at Cal Poly is incomplete without diversity and
inclusion. Today, many high-achieving students from low-income families can’t afford
to attend Cal Poly because existing financial aid sources do not cover campus-specific
fees. Many of these students are the first in their families to attend college, and/or
come from racial or ethnic groups that are currently under-represented at Cal Poly as
compared to the statewide population.
 Most expensive public university: While Cal Poly remains an excellent value for
students who require less financial aid, it is effectively the most expensive public
university in California for the students who are in the greatest need of financial aid.
 Educational equity: Cal Poly believes that all qualified students deserve an equal
chance to attend Cal Poly, and also that all students benefit from learning in a diverse
environment — something employers and those recruiting Cal Poly graduates
increasingly demand.
 Career readiness and relevance: Employers want to hire graduates with the cultural
competency to effectively communicate and work in an ever-diverse world. Cal Poly
can only provide that education on a campus that reflects the demographics and
diversity of California and its workforce.

Main point, sub point

The Cal Poly Opportunity Grant (CPOG)

Cal Poly administration has proposed an increase in incoming out-of-state students’ fees to
fund a grant to help incoming low-income California students. The Cal Poly Opportunity Grant
(CPOG) will help pay Cal Poly fees for incoming California-resident students who meet specific
low-income qualifications. Even though the goal of this grant may be noble, I strongly believe,
its execution is misguided.

To accumulate the money needed to sustain this grant, Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong
proposed the Cal Poly Opportunity Fee (CPOF) to be applied to incoming out-of-state students.
The fee would begin as $2,010 per year for out-of-state students, either starting their freshman
year or transferring to Cal Poly in Fall 2018. The fee would then increase by that amount for
each new year. Freshmen starting in Fall 2019 would pay $4,020 per year and freshmen starting
in 2020 would pay $6,030 per year. Students starting in 2021 and beyond would pay $8,040 per
year.

In my opinion, placing the entirety of the responsibility of diversification on out-of-state

students who already pay around double in-state tuition is ridiculous. Funding could either be
appropriated from other existing sources of revenue or could be levied on the entire student
body. This in general is just not my opinion, in fact a lot of mustangs think the same.

Rama Adajian in an interview for Mustang News article, ‘Out-of-state student fee’ published on
February 13th 2018, said, “If [Cal Poly] is raising the tuition for 15% of it’s students, one would
think 85% of people would vote ‘Yes’ on this poll since it would benefit them. The irony is that
85% of people voted ‘No’ on this poll, including in-state students.”

According to the Cal Poly Opportunity Grant and Fee website, the four main challenges, Cal Poly
wants to counter with the introduction of Cal Poly Opportunity Fee are- Lack of diversity, Most
expensive public university, Educational equity and Career readiness. I would like to present my
counter argument to all of these points.

I think it’s the biggest irony that Cal Poly is trying increase the lack of diversity by taking steps
which will only increase the lack diversity of the out of state students. Out-of-state students
already pay fees significantly higher than the amount paid by in-state students. The increased
out-of-state tuition already serves as a major factor in dissuading potential out-of-state
students from choosing Cal Poly over any university in their respective state. The extra financial
burden from this fee would only push these students further away. This will likely result in
additional refining of the out-of-state students attending Cal Poly and hence increasing lack of
diversity.

Similarly, the other challenges our university is trying to overcome do not add up in themselves
to form something more meaningful. Increasing tuition just to make Cal Poly cheaper isn’t
logical at all. I do not understand how will Cal Poly maintain Educational Equity by taking away
chances of other students. Career readiness for someone who has studied in a diverse
environment is only possible if the first three challenges are successfully countered, which does
not seem to get accomplished with the guidance Cal Poly is currently receiving.

I’m among those students who think Cal Poly Opportunity Grant should become a thing but it
should not get funded from Cal Poly Opportunity Fee. Many Cal Poly students have been very
expressive about how they feel the same. For example, a business administration junior Neda
Jamaly said in her interview with Sabrina Pascua for an article, ‘With conclusion of open forums
about Cal Poly Opportunity Fee, student responses remain mixed’ published in Mustang News
on March 12, 2018 that, she feels that the fee proposal will only create more tensions for
minority students.

“As a minority student, I think we defend ourselves enough on this campus,” Jamaly said. She
added, “When people know they are paying for other people, it’s not going to make them
empathetic to that situation or that person’s situation. They are just going to feel frustrated
that, ‘I’m sitting here paying for my tuition, but I’m also paying yours.’” This is why I believe that
making just out-of-state students pay for others is highly unethical.

We have been discussing whether doing this is good or bad. But now I wanna draw our
attention to whether this should be granted or not. According to Cal Poly Opportunity Grant
Objective Statement - 42.5% of the CPOF would go to the proposed Cal Poly Opportunity Grant
(CPOG) for low-income students, 21.25% would go to support services for students receiving
the CPOG, 21.25% would go to Cal Poly, and 15% would go to the Chancellor’s office”

While Cal Poly fees in the past have not designated a percentage of funds to the Cal Poly
general fund or to the CSU Chancellor’s Office and instead all revenue was designated toward
fee-specific goals, the current proposal designates 21.25% of CPOF revenue to the Cal Poly
general fund and 15% to the CSU Chancellor’s Office! This is wrong! This is straight up deceiving
everyone who is supporting this cause for a noble reason, and charging out-of-state students a
lot of money in the name of a good cause and using it for other purposes which are not
accountable to anyone.

Students already contribute to the Cal Poly General Fund through payment of tuition, and thus
should not be required to pay additional money into the general fund through a fee designed
and marketed as a source of support for low-income students, and while the CPOF is marketed
as benefitting low-income Cal Poly students, these designations send a combined 36.25% of
CPOF funds to resources that do not specifically relate to CPOG recipients.

Cal Poly is trying to improve it’s lack of diversity at the cost of diversity. In an article, ‘The
welfare effects of discriminating between in-state and out-of-state students’ written by Malte
Hübner he discusses how almost all the universities all over America have a ratio of out-of-state
tuition fees to instate tuition of something between 2.4 to 2.6. Considering current in-state fees
and out-of-state and international fees, Cal Poly has a ratio of 2.47 already! Adding $8000 in the
name of Cal Poly Opportunity Fee will make this ratio to go to 3.32! This does not make any
sense at all!
To conclude, I would just say the Cal Poly Opportunity Grant is a very empathetic cause and
soon should become a big thing, but Cal Poly Opportunity Fee should not be passed by our
administration. I myself am a out-of-state student, I know how hard it is trying to pay for every
unit I have to study at Cal Poly, and adding extra $8000 is almost equal to the entire tuition my
fellow in-state mustangs pay at college in an annual year which is unethical.

In the similar mustang news article published on February 13, 2018, Molly Saloman said, “The
inexpensive tuition for out of state students is one of the biggest driving factors behind me
coming to Cal Poly and also for me not graduating with crippling amounts of student debt like
too many [people] in the country...” This is how most of the out of state students everywhere in
the world feel like.

There are many alternative measures Cal Poly can implement to gather the funds to cover the
Grant. Other than saving energy resources on campus, and asking our alumnis for donations,
Cal Poly can follow other money models to pull out money without pressuring some part of it’s
student population. One of the good example is the Futuros Model discussed by Jenkins, A
Francesca in her article, ‘Futuros Models Helping Low-Income Immigrant Students.’ Another
good example is of students of College of the Ozarks in Missouri, where those kids work for
their education and pay nothing. These are good ways to get public funding or figuring out a
work plan for the students in need and should be totally doable by us.

As Rachel Marquardt from Mustang News explains in her article published

However, Jamaly feels the fee proposal will only create more tensions for minority students.

“As a minority student, I think we defend ourselves enough on this campus,” Jamaly said.
“When people know they are paying for other people, it’s not going to make them empathetic
to that situation or that person’s situation. They are just going to feel frustrated that, ‘I’m
sitting here paying for my tuition, but I’m also paying yours.’”

Opportunity Grant Objective Statement -

https://opportunitygrant.calpoly.edu/sites/default/files/documents/CPOF_Objective_Statemen
t_02_14_18.pdf