Hilton-Romero Propose 3-Year Degrees & Freeze Tuition

Gubernatorial Candidate Steve Hilton and Lt. Gov. Candidate Gloria Romero have proposed a plan to make the California’s public colleges affordable again.

Hilton argues that under prolonged Democratic one-party rule, University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges have become far too expensive due to rising tuition, administrative bloat, waste, falling standards, and inefficiencies like prolonged degree timelines and transfer issues.

California’s public colleges were supposed to be a ladder up, Hilton says. But for too many families, they have become just another cost trap driven by rising tuition and outdated timelines that force families to pay more.

“After 15 years of one-party rule, California’s public colleges have become more expensive, more bureaucratic, and students are stuck waiting for classes they need to graduate,” said Steve Hilton. “Working families are paying more and getting less. That ends when I’m governor.”

Hilton provides two gross examples:

“At the University of California, tuition for new in-state undergraduates is $15,588, and the university estimates the total annual cost can reach about $47,000 once housing, meals, books, transportation, and other expenses are included.

Even California Community Colleges, often sold as the cheap option, charge $46 per unit in enrollment fees, or $552 for a full-time 12-unit semester, before books, commuting, and everything else.”

Key Problems Steve Hilton Has Highlighted:

• Rising Costs: CSU undergraduate tuition at $6,450/year (with increases planned); UC in-state tuition at $15,588/year, with total cost of attendance around $47,000 including living expenses; community colleges at $46/unit ($552 for a full-time semester), plus additional costs.
• Beyond Tuition: Longer time to degree (e.g., only ~35% of CSU first-time students graduate in four years), class shortages, credit transfer losses, and remedial courses add unnecessary expenses and delays.
• Blame: Democrats have protected the status quo, allowing bureaucracy and lack of accountability to drive up costs without reforms.

Main Elements of the Plan

• Faster, Lower-Cost Degrees: Introduce three-year degree options and accelerated pathways to let students graduate sooner, enter the workforce earlier, and reduce overall costs by avoiding extra years of tuition and living expenses.
• Tuition Freeze: Freeze in-state tuition while requiring the systems to cut waste and lower operational costs.
• Accountability and Leadership: As governor, Hilton would use executive authority to drive reforms. His proposed lieutenant governor running mate, Gloria Romero (a former Democratic state Senate leader turned Republican, with education reform experience), would leverage her position on the governing boards of UC, CSU, and community colleges to advocate for affordability and accountability.
• Transparency on Spending: Require campus-by-campus reporting, independent audits, and program reviews to expose waste, prioritize career-ready programs, and ensure efficient use of resources (including reviewing student housing allocation).
• Improve Transfers and Access: Simplify transfer rules, enhance credit portability to prevent lost time/money, prioritize California residents in public university admissions, and fix preparation pipelines to reduce remedial needs.
• Kindergarten-to-College Pipeline: Implement a strategy to better prepare students from early education onward.
• Restore Standards: Emphasize merit-based decisions, enforce non-discrimination (per Proposition 209), protect student safety during protests, uphold fairness in women’s sports, and focus on results over bureaucracy.

Hilton’s plan aims to reverse what he calls the “cost trap” by modernizing the system, cutting inefficiencies, increasing accountability, and refocusing on outcomes so public colleges once again serve as a true ladder for upward mobility rather than a financial burden.

This aligns with his broader campaign theme of making California “affordable” (or “Califordable”) and restoring the California Dream through reforms in education, housing, taxes, and more. Note that his campaign website emphasizes K-12 reforms prominently (e.g., 3rd-grade literacy focus, accountability, school choice), but the provided details center on higher education affordability.

Read Steve Hilton’s and Gloria Romero’s entire plan HERE.

When I attended CSU Sacramento, tuition was $185.00 per semester, $370 per year (yes, Ronald Reagan was in his first term as President).

When CSU Sacramento first opened in 1947, the tuition fee for full time students was only $13 per year. By 1982, CSU was charging enrollment fees of $441 per year. By 2017, annual tuition had ballooned to $5,742.

The 2025 tuition & fees of CSU Sacramento is $8,018, and on-campus housing costs $24,078.