2008 Woodie Awards
Community colleges to protest potential fee increase
ASSC is rallying students to say 'Hasta la vista' to a proposal to increase of fees to $26 a unit
Brian Babcock
Date created: 3/10/04 Section: NEWS
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The Associated Students of Skyline College are marching on Sacramento with fellow California community college students in protest of Gov. Swarzeneggar's proposal to raise tuition fees to $26 a unit on March 15.
The ASSC is planning to fight this hike in tuition by holding a Teach-In on Mar. 10 in addition to the protest in Sacramento.
This isn't the first time a protest has happened. At this same time last year 10,000 students walked on Sacramento and protested a tuition hike from $11 to $24. The state eventually decided to only raise the fee to $18 per unit.
"Numbers are power," said Tanya Johnson, president of the ASSC, "Numbers are really persuasive. Strong numbers are heard more than if there were are only [a few]."
This time the governor is a different person, but the problem is the same. Now the state wants to raise the tuition by an additional $8.
"We're mad at any increase," Johnson said when asked if there would be a problem if the fee increase were smaller. "It's already hard enough for some students to pay for their tuition fees."
In this year's State of the State address, Schwarzenegger said, "In the last two years, college fees have increased over 40 percent. We must end the boom-and-bust cycle of widely fluctuating fees with a predictable, capped fee policy for college students and their parents. And we must limit fee increases to no more than ten percent a year."
While this might have been the governor's original intention, the tuition hike that is being proposed would be another 44 percent.
"Obviously he's contradicting himself," Johnson said.
Not only have the tuition fees increased but there have also been a significant amount of cuts to student programs and services; even teachers have been affected. The cuts have cost many full-time and part-time teachers their jobs, which in turn has shutout approximately 100,000 students from receiving a further education.
"Arnold is full of s-," said Nancy Sirker, a Skyline student. "Politicians in general have a lot of pressure to keep people happy from all sides. But I think what's necessary is to get someone in office who wants to do the right thing, not do things for the wrong reasons."
The ASSC is planning to fight this hike in tuition by holding a Teach-In on Mar. 10 in addition to the protest in Sacramento.
This isn't the first time a protest has happened. At this same time last year 10,000 students walked on Sacramento and protested a tuition hike from $11 to $24. The state eventually decided to only raise the fee to $18 per unit.
"Numbers are power," said Tanya Johnson, president of the ASSC, "Numbers are really persuasive. Strong numbers are heard more than if there were are only [a few]."
This time the governor is a different person, but the problem is the same. Now the state wants to raise the tuition by an additional $8.
"We're mad at any increase," Johnson said when asked if there would be a problem if the fee increase were smaller. "It's already hard enough for some students to pay for their tuition fees."
In this year's State of the State address, Schwarzenegger said, "In the last two years, college fees have increased over 40 percent. We must end the boom-and-bust cycle of widely fluctuating fees with a predictable, capped fee policy for college students and their parents. And we must limit fee increases to no more than ten percent a year."
While this might have been the governor's original intention, the tuition hike that is being proposed would be another 44 percent.
"Obviously he's contradicting himself," Johnson said.
Not only have the tuition fees increased but there have also been a significant amount of cuts to student programs and services; even teachers have been affected. The cuts have cost many full-time and part-time teachers their jobs, which in turn has shutout approximately 100,000 students from receiving a further education.
"Arnold is full of s-," said Nancy Sirker, a Skyline student. "Politicians in general have a lot of pressure to keep people happy from all sides. But I think what's necessary is to get someone in office who wants to do the right thing, not do things for the wrong reasons."
