Well, that was fun.

I mean, I had a great time over the last few years with California’s lowcommunity college fees, low university fees, and all of the othersatisfying perks that accompanied an extraordinary surge in the state’seconomy in the late 1990s.

Yes sir, those were good times. Alas, like any great party, it had to end.

A slumping stock market, combined with billions in lost tax revenue fromthe burst dot-com bubble, has plunged the state into a budget deficit ofnearly $35 billion.

And Gov. Gray Davis-ever the tacky host-has made a state budget proposalthat expects public university students (among many other groups) to helpclean up an awe-inspiring mess.

But as any party pooper will tell you, if you play, you pay, and playingis exactly what we’ve been doing in California for the last nine years ofeconomic flourish and stabilized college fees. California’s public universities withstood the national trend of risingeducation costs, maintaining an average annual resident tuition of $2,561compared to the U.S. average of $3,506. As students, we enjoyed addedservices, more flexible class schedules and an increased availability infinancial aid.

And now that the state’s economy has collapsed, we’re naturally expectedto do some paying. According to the California State University’s Board ofTrustees, CSU undergraduate fees will jump $72 this semester and as muchas $394 more for the upcoming 2003-04 school year. Two-year institutionswill see a 118-percent increase in fees from the current $11 per unit to$24 per unit. Those poor suckers over at the University of California aregoing to have to cough up an extra $1199 annually for the privilege ofattending that institution.

Man. Talk about a hangover.

This is what happens, however, when we lean so heavily on a state economyknown more for its volatility and caprice than anything close to a surebet. Many students claim to have been “blindsided” by the fee increases,but it seems much more likely that we took our good fortune for granted.

After all, who can forget the heady prosperity of early 2000, when the CSUissued a glowing press release about the governor’s proposed 10 percentincrease that year in the system’s budget?

“We are grateful that the governor has consistently made education his toppriority, and this budget is a reflection of that,” said CSU ChancellorCharles B. Reed at the time. “Consistent, long-term funding helps the CSU,students and parents to plan better financially.”

What a difference three years make. Nevertheless, Reed’s comments don’tunveil a contradiction as much as they highlight the type of optimism thatwelcomed many of us into the CSU system.In today’s more cynical education climate, Reed’s comments seemdisingenuous.

It would be equally disingenuous of us as students, however, to assumethat we can lay claim to California’s robust economy one day andultimately keep that claim-at the expense of other services such as healthcare or K-12 education-when the money disappears.

And although students can’t be held accountable for the often-crushingineptitude of our state officials or university administrators, we do haveto look at the current budget crisis for what it is: a complete failurein foresight. The state wasn’t conserving surplus funds for a worst-casescenario, universities weren’t anticipating any kind of economic declineand students weren’t paying attention when the deficit rumors begancirculating in the local media last summer.

The signs of a slowdown were everywhere, but we were having way too muchfun to notice.

But while the party might be over, the sky isn’t falling. California stillhas some of the most affordable public education in the country, and wehad to expect the good times to end sometime. After we choke back the initial panic of such a sudden and severeincrease, we’ll be back in our classes, waiting in lines, getting on withour lives.

It’s a pain, but hey-this is California.

The next party will be here before we know it.