“They say cut back, we say fight back” echoed though the quad of Sacramento State Wednesday by angry students and professors.
For the Fall 2009 semester tuition has skyrocketed, leaving some students unable to make the payment. Sacramento State has been know as the cheapest university in the state of California. This may not be for much longer with the increase in tuition of 32 percent.
Many students are also finding that some of their classes have been cancelled. These classes include those needed for graduation, such as Coms 26 for Digital Media majors and minors. An email was sent out in July to students, who were expecting to take this particular class, to inform them of this cancellation.
Of all forms of communication, they chose to send an email. A nonchalant way of screwing students in the ass before they are expected to graduate. The email did ensure students that the class would be available in the Spring 2010 semester. Of course, this is not a guarantee.
For the first time, professors are also expected to choose furlough days during expected class time. This is added to the frustration of students. Not only are fees increasing, but now students are receiving 10 percent less class time. How are Americans supposed to get the economy back on track when the next generation is unable to afford an education?
During the rally, students and professors expressed their feelings about this situation. Many blamed CSU Chancellor Charles Reed and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, while others explained their story and asked for their fellow students to ban together to fight back. ASI President Roberto Torres suggested a march to the state capitol this spring.
No matter who you point the finger at, nothing is about to change any time soon. It can only get worse from here and it is expected that tuition will keep rising.
Tuition had been increasing over the years, but students could not have prepared for it to rise at this explosive rate. It has been said by Reed that tuition will continue to rise in the following year to about 5,000 dollars a year.
There is no reason to stay and watch the university crumble. But, will it be a bigger hassle to transfer to another university or suck it up and pay the increasing tuition? Only the students will decide which is the greater hassle and we will watch as the population of students changes.
While professors and students sang “The Furlough Blues”, CSUS President Alexander Gonzalez was no where to be found. In 2007, it was well known of Gonzalez’s raise that angered many CSUS students when they first started to see a slow increase in tuition. According to the Sacramento Bee’s state salary database, Gonzalez’s 2008 income was 368,584 dollars.
This puts in perspective the saying “the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer”. While professors are losing health benefits and pay and students are struggling to further their eduction, administrators are driving their Mercedes and sleeping in their mansions. When are students going to see the light at the end of the long, dark tunnel?
In most of the columns so far, the writer have been waaaay too subdued in their language. This writer was not, though in one case, stepped beyond the language any column reader would expect to run across.
ReplyDeleteThe writer does need to watch misspellings and practice normal capitalization, otherwise the effect of the column is lost. Good, strong, first effort.