Ten-thousand thirty-two dollars is a nearly negligible fee for a year of higher education to most, especially when the school charging that amount is a prestigious one.
But last November, when the California state university system announced plans for a 32 percent tuition hike in 2011, students were well within their right to object. For some, the jump meant a nearly impossible journey to graduation, and for others, it meant a diploma at a UC or Cal State school was no longer an achievable goal.
Today, students and professors on the other side of the country will join together to protest the implementation of the increase for in-state students, which the school said in November was at least partially due to a $640 million cut to the system by the state in face of an $8 billion deficit by the end of next year. Still, to put the burden of budgetary shortcoming on students, especially with almost no notice, is irresponsible and will ultimately hurt the system more than help it. Already, the schools have been forced to cut classes and faculty positions.
As Boston University students who faced a 3.75 percent tuition hike last year and barely blinked, it is easy for us to assume that the one or two thousand dollars is hardly justification for the shutting-down of a system of universities &- which is what is slated for today, according to a preemptive email sent out to UC-Santa Cruz students from an unofficial strike committee. The “National Day of Action for Public Education” aims to protest the budget cuts and corresponding charge swelling to attend a UC school. Following a slew of misdeeds committed in protest &- a dumpster fire and building defacements &- it seems like the state might have no choice but to pay attention
Inspired by the situation in California and suffering from their own tuition hikes, schools in 31 other states are planning events for the “Day of Action” too, though none on such a scale as in the Golden State. In an age when collegiate apathy is the preferred method of protest, it is inspiring to see an entire student population able to mobilize, or at least make a conscious effort to get to the point of action, especially when it is more about principle than anything else. Students pay tens of thousands more to attend private universities elsewhere without a second thought, and California schools’ choice to stand and fight over four digits is something powerful and telling of the system’s failure. If entire families are willing to relocate simply to reap the benefits of California state schools and their low tuitions, then the state is doing a disservice to its citizens by making them pay for its mistakes.
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