UC isn’t thinking of students

Perhaps the biggest concern for 21st century college students is figuring out how to pay for their education without falling into the ever-expanding black hole known as “student debt.” For UC students, this pit has just increased by up to 5 percent per year for the next five years, and no one’s too happy about it.

On Nov. 19, the UC Regents Board voted 14-7 in approval of the proposed 5 percent-per-year tuition hike put forth by President Janet Napolitano. Napolitano says that the increases are designed so students know what is coming, but knowledge of what is to come isn’t comforting for the vast majority of students. Although the increases are not fully guaranteed to happen (they are safeguards in case state funding decreases during the time frame, which given our governor’s past decisions, is pretty likely), the more than $600 a year possible increase is threatening families around the state.

Students broke out in protests after the board approved the hikes, with gatherings held at the Berkeley, Davis, and SF campuses, among others. An organized walkout was held Nov. 24, during which thousands of students abandoned their classes and took to the streets to voice their anger. They chanted, “No tuition, no more fees. Education should be free!”

UC Berkeley students have taken the lead on the protesting, as is common for the school. In 2009, the UC Regents Board increased tuition by a whopping 32 percent, pushing yearly fees over the $10,000 mark, and Berkeley students again protested their decision.

Claims from UC officials that low-income families will actually see their tuition decrease in the near future isn’t comforting students who still need to take out loans to pay for their education.

As thousands of community college students apply for transfer to UC schools, the news of these potential increases is disheartening to say the least, especially when students are constantly berated with older generations’ tales of how they got through college. In 1980, when most of our parents would have been in school, tuition was a lowly $719 per year, easily payable with a part-time income. Now, students are expected to juggle full-time work and full-time school, plus homework, extra-curricular activities, et cetera, et cetera, and those wages still can’t pay UC tuition.

The Tempest sincerely hopes that the UC Board, Napolitano, and Gov. Jerry Brown consider their decisions, and further, how they directly impact students who desperately need to get a college education and who are beginning to see a college degree as a $60,000 piece of paper.

The UC Board also voted to increase costs for several of Berkeley’s professional degree programs, including a $7,500 increase per year for incoming students of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, according to the Daily Cal.

According to the SF Chronicle, studies show that California must produce a million bachelor’s degrees in the next 10 years to keep up economically, but if our students can’t afford an education without going tens of thousands into debt, how is that possible?

Check out theopenuc.wordpress.com for further information regarding protests.

[Source]: The Tempest