The battle of how much administrators and staff are being paid is hitting another bump in the road.

This started back in November of 2025, when the CSU Board of Trustees approved a resolution that authorized pay increases for CSU executives that range from five to 20% on top of any bonuses they receive.

State Assembly Member Patrick Ahrens of Cupertino explains why this approval comes at a bad time.

“This occurred in the immediate aftermath of a period in which the CSU denied promised salary step increases to CSU workers citing budget conditions,” Ahrens said “In addition, the CSU implemented a policy raising tuition annually at all campuses.”

According to Ahrens by the 2028-29 school year, tuition will be 30% higher than what it was back in 2023.

“The state of California has provided the CSU budget increases nearly every single year for the past decade between 100,000,000 and $400,000,000 each year, increasing state support by nearly $2,000,000,000 annually ongoing,” Ahrens said.

This prompted him to create Assembly Bill 1831.

This bill would cap the amount of increases that university leaders would receive from fiscal year to year.

But progress of this bill has been paused by the state’s Senate Appropriations Committee and has not been officially approved to move to a full senate vote and won’t be voted on until a future legislation.

This concern over administration salaries was even echoed by the president of the California Faculty Association Margarita Berta-Avila, who explains the growing gap between affordability.

“We talk about the growing gap between the rich and the poor,” Berta-Avila said. “We are literally watching this happen in the CSU. The lowest paid full time lecturer makes just over $66,000 a year, but most lecturers are not full time and make less than half that amount. In comparison, the lowest paid CSU campus president makes $370,000 a year. The highest paid president makes $611,203 a year, and the CND CSU’s chancellor base pay is $750,000.”

Berta-Avila stressed the importance of funding the classroom and not the boardroom.