California Students Hold Protests Regarding School Fees
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Public education has been hit hard by the recent economic troubles, and many public universities have responded by increasing student fees. In the latest example of fee increases, the University of California voted to increase student fees for residents next year by 32 percent. As a result, students will end up paying more than $10,000 annually.
The resulting announcement has prompted a series of student protests and demonstrations at campuses throughout the state of California. At UC Berkeley, students occupied a classroom building Friday which resulted in the arrest of several students.
Similar problems are plaguing public universities across the country. Florida and New York have been forced to employ tuition hikes of 15 percent for their public universities. According to Nicholas Johnson, director of the State Fiscal Project, the economic troubles are now starting to reach the worst impact on public universities.
"The recession is ending, at least maybe, but budget shortfalls are just now starting to have their worst effects on colleges and universities," Johnson released in a statement. "The budgets for next year are even more troubled than the budgets were for this year."
It's horrible that education always has to suffer when budget cuts are involved. Not only are tuitions increased, but the services provided decline dramatically. Classes are cancelled, resources shortened, etc. If tuition increases, it should be done reasonably and with a considerable amount of improvements to the campuses.
I am currently attending a University that is suffereing from underfunding from the state, and they were debating raising tuition, even though its already the highest in-state tuition in the country.
They actually decided NOT to raise tuition for at least another semester while the state works out its money problems.
I commend UC students for taking a stand and voicing their opinions.
