California State University, Monterey Bay reached a major milestone this week -- national accreditation. The achievement is a credit to the vision of Dr. Peter Smith, the school's founding president, Dr. Diane Cordero de Noriega, provost and vice president for academic affairs, Leon Panetta, faculty and students.

Accreditation is significant because it's one way that students, government, employers and the general public evaluate a college or university. Many students are reluctant to enroll in an unaccredited institution, believing that would diminish their career opportunities. To use federal student-aid dollars, students must attend an accredited school. To have a shot at being part of the U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking of colleges and universities, a school needs accreditation.

CSUMB's accrediting body, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, had many favorable things to say about it. "It is our view that CSUMB is a product of scholarship at its best -- rigorous, ethical, socially responsible, and respectful of the values and strengths of a diverse group of people who have adopted a common vision and sense of purpose," wrote the reviewers.

The association's Executive Director Ralph A. Wolff believes that CSUMB has the potential to become a national model for identifying what it is that students are supposed to learn and then measuring it. Many colleges and universities are struggling to evaluate student learning in a scholarly manner. What impressed the accrediting team is the faculty's extensive use of the "inquiry" model. A typical response to a problem on a college campus is to say, "Let's fix it!" But at CSUMB, the response is, "How can we connect this to improving student learning?" That alone is a great tribute to the culture of inquiry developed at CSUMB.

The evaluators also recommended improvements. For example, students will need to become more proactive in managing their own learning and distance-learning should be expanded.

CSUMB is committed to serving the educational needs of historically underserved students, but, sadly, that will now be more difficult. This week CSU trustees adopted a 30 percent fee increase. On top of an earlier 10 percent fee increase, that means many CSU students will pay 40 percent more than they did last fall.

California's colleges and universities are a great asset and the state's future depends upon them. So why are future graduates being asked to bear an unfair share of California's budget burden?