Building takeovers and angry campus protests couldn’t stop last year’s systemwide fee hike at California State University, but a 21-year-old communications major is hoping to have better luck in a San Francisco courtroom.

Appearing in small claims court Friday, San Francisco State University student Angela Yuen Uyeda said university officials had unfairly forced her to pay twice for the fall 2009 semester.

Like many students, Uyeda had already paid $2,034 for full-time tuition when the financially strapped university bumped up the price by 20 percent and sent out a second bill. The decision was made July 21, 2009 – two weeks after the deadline to pay for fall registration and just two months after another 10 percent increase.

San Francisco State Registrar Suzanne Dmytrenko and Risk Manager Michael Martin told small claims Commissioner Paul Slavit the additional fees were necessary to keep CSU running amid deep cuts in state aid and that the university had notified students that fees “are subject to change at any time.”

But Slavit seemed sympathetic to Uyeda. “I’m not discounting the overlying budget problems, but I can understand her position,” he told university officials.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/28/BARS1F4HC1.DTL&type=education#ixzz0xzjQsEFG