Funding

Average Support Cost per Fulltime Equivalent Student and Sources of Funds

The total support cost per full-time equivalent student (FTES) includes the expenditures for current operations, including payments made to students in the form of financial aid, and all fully reimbursed programs contained in state appropriations. The average support cost is determined by dividing the total cost by the number of FTES. The total CSU 2012/13 budget amounts were $2,010,652,000 from state General Fund (GF) appropriations (not including capital outlay funding) and before adding $51.4 million CalPERS retirement adjustment, $1,497,474,000 from  tuition fee revenue after rollback to 2011/12 tuition fee rates and after tuition fee discounts (forgone revenue), and $386,604,000 from other fee revenues for a total of $3,894,730,000. The number of 2012/13 FTES is 331,716 resident target and 14,328 non-resident students for a total of 346,044 FTES. The GF appropriation is applicable to resident students only whereas fee revenues are collected from resident and nonresident students. FTES is determined by dividing the total academic student load by 15 units per term (the figure used here to define a full-time student’s academic load). 

The 2012/13 average support cost per FTES based on GF appropriation and net tuition fee revenue only is $10,389 and when including all sources as indicated below is $11,506, which includes all fee revenue in the CSU Operating Fund (e.g. tuition fees, application fees, and other campus mandatory fees). Of this amount, the average net tuition fee revenue per FTES is $6,061. 

*Represents state GF appropriation in the Budget Act of 2012/13; GF is divisible by resident students only (331,716 FTES).

**Represents CSU Operating Fund, Tuition Fee and other fees revenue amounts (net of foregone revenue) submitted in campus August 2012/13 final budgets (adjusted for rollback to 2011/12 tuition fee rates). Revenues are divisible by resident and nonresident students (346,044 FTES).

The average CSU 2011/12 academic year, resident, undergraduate student basic tuition fee and other mandatory fees required to apply to, enroll in, or attend the university after rollback to 2011/12 tuituion fee rates is $6,602 ($5,472 2011/12 AY tuition fee plus 2012/13 $1,130 average campus-based fees). However, the costs paid by individual students will vary depending on campus, program, and whether a student is part-time, full-time, resident, or nonresident.