Baby Boomer generation should help protect higher education
Your pocketbook is about to take another hit. Yes, your student fees are making yet another painful jump. Last Tuesday, the California State University Board of Trustees voted to increase fees by 5 percent for spring and another 10 percent in fall, adding up to a total increase of 76 percent from just five years ago. There is no reason why things should have gotten so bad, not when education is such a vital and profitable investment for our state.
I won't launch into the tired tirade against fee increases and the evil schemes of the Board of Trustees. I actually believe the board members when they say the extra money is necessary to maintain academic programs and other services vital for our education, especially with the expected influx of an additional 30,000 students this spring.
The CSUs have decided to accept these students because of funding from the recently passed state budget. Thus the board calls this fee increase a necessary evil, threatening more of what we have already seen: furlough days, fewer qualified professors, growing class sizes and slashed academic programs. Fortunately, it is both CSU and U.C. policy to contribute about one-third of the revenue from any fee