The Tuesday meeting of the CSU Board of Trustees in Long Beach was an eventful one to say the least.

The hot-button topic was the five percent tuition increase proposed by CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White that would amount to a $270 increase per quarter and semester for in-state students.

CSU Executive Vice Chancellor Steve Relyea said the record high enrollment caused a need for more classes, faculty and staff for the 23-campus system. Relyea said since the state funding was about half of what the CSU requested from Gov. Jerry Brown, the system may have to go to their “last resort,” a tuition increase, to acquire the necessary funds.

Relyea said there are roughly 225,000 students that comprise nearly 60 percent of the entire CSU student population who receive full financial aid and they would not be affected by the increase. According to the CSU Budget Office, current tuition for in-state students is $5,472 per semester and a little less than half of that per quarter. The board will vote on the increase proposal in March.

The announcement came on the heels of the University of California Regents passing of a 2.5 percent tuition increase system wide because their state budget request was not met. According to the UC system, this was the first increase in tuition in more than six years. White’s proposal claims the five percent increase would result in nearly $80 million per year for the CSU.

According to the CSU Budget Office, tuition has been the same since the 2011-2012 school year, however, since 2007-2008, tuition prices have nearly doubled.

The Cal State East Bay Students for Quality Education organized a demonstration today on the Hayward campus that will end with them presenting a list of demands that includes a no tuition hike clause to President Leroy M. Morishita.