Fee hikes at the University of California
A friend of mine posted a quick update to Facebook regarding the 32% tuition hikes announced by the University of California recently. As an alumnus of UC Berkeley, I can definitely sympathize with his views:
32% tuition hike. Where are CA govt. priorities? Outrageous. I’d go protest at UC Berkeley, if it wasnt raining. Anyone else think its ridiculous.
That said, here was my response:
I too am surprised that the jump was so big, but you had to expect that a hike was coming. The real point is this: rational fiscal policy demands that we spend only what we can afford. So in determining if 32% is too big or not, you’d have to know what the rest of the money is being spent on. In the absence of such an analysis, I think it’s tough to characterize the protests as anything but knee-jerk outcry. If California is spending money on wasteful items (pork barrel blah-blah-blah) and forcing students to foot the bill, then, yes, by all means, protest. But if we’re feeding children, paying law enforcement, or (insert other worthy goals here) – then I hope you’ll agree that this may not be so black and white.