Blog: Cal State chancellor vows a tuition increase is ‘off the table’

But Mia Kagianas, president of the Cal State Student Assn., cautioned that tuition — currently $5,742 annually — is just a small part of the overall cost of college. The average this year ranged from $17,422 for students who live at home to $26,139 for those who live off campus. Food and housing were, by far, the largest non-tuition costs, amounting to about $14,000 annually for the nearly two-thirds of students who don’t live at home, according to Cal State data.