What better way to welcome you all back from Spring Break than by railing yet again on those entrusted with our education. As many of you know, the California State University Board of Trustees recently passed a 10 percent increase in student fees for this fall. When costs go up, less people can afford to pay them. One might say that a $252 per-year fee increase for undergraduates will not make much of a difference. For some, maybe not by itself, but this is not the first time our fees have increased. The recent increase is the fifth hike in six years for both CSUs and UCs.

More importantly though, according to the website, www.ERICDigests.org, “People with college degrees are more open-minded, more cultured, more rational, more consistent and less authoritarian; these benefits are also passed along to succeeding generations?” Other public benefits of attending college include increased tax revenues, greater workplace productivity, increased consumption, increased workforce flexibility, and decreased reliance on government financial support.

A press release issued by CSU Chancellor Charles Greed, I mean Reed, and the Board of DisTrustees, claimed that CSU fees are less than “public comparable institutions” across the nation. They list 15 universities that have higher student fees than CSU schools. They obscure many other factors that impact a student’s ability to attend a CSU school.

According to the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center, out of the 15 schools listed, seven schools are in states that are ranked in the top half of 4th quarter overall cost of living figures for 2006.

For example, Arizona State University-Tempe student fees for 2006-2007 were $1,491 more than CSU schools, but Arizona ranks 2nd in the nation for overall cost of living (the lower the number-ranking, the lower the overall cost of living). California is ranked 47th, but I found that New York, New Jersey and Maryland all had schools on the list with higher student fees than CSU and also ranked 46th, 45th, 43rd respectively for overall cost of living.

California students alone cannot protest increased student fees because of the high cost of living students must also deal with. However, in the three categories that arguably take the biggest bite out of one’s pocket book, groceries, health care and housing, California has a higher cost of living in those categories than New York, New Jersey and Maryland.

Furthermore, according to the American Automobile Association, Californians pay far more per gallon for regular gas than any other state at $3.16. The same gallon is $2.74 in New York, $2.54 in Maryland and $2.44 in New Jersey. This is compounded by the fact that 95 percent of Sac State students commute to school or live off-campus. What Sac State students “save” in student fees as compared to schools with higher fees, they spend on gas alone.

So despite what CSU officials say, we are still getting screwed. So everyone bend over and get ready for yet another school year full of fire hazard class sizes, cancelled courses and thinner wallets. Hopefully, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state legislature allocate money from the state’s general fund that would eliminate the fee increase.

The chancellor, the trustees and our school president acting as guardians of California higher education is like a bunch of chefs trying to land a plane?and there is no Ted Striker on board.

Scott Allen can be reached at [email protected]