Protest! Get up from your brand new Measure-C funded desks and march the streets! Call the Board members! The colleges YOU want to transfer to are raising their fees yet again!

Normally, I would be all over this prospect. But protesting a fee increase for the simple reason that it is a fee increase reminds me a little of rejecting taxes simply because they are taxes – rejecting anything on principle gets dangerous when you rush into it. Before we incriminate the Board of Trustees of the CSU system for denying the less well off a quality education, let’s consider the situation in a broader perspective.

The root of the problem remains that California is pretty broke. While we’re at it, the entire nation is pretty broke and spending an inordinate amount of the money it doesn’t have on sustaining the world’s largest military. Meanwhile, the state has been struggling to overcome the two-thirds majority required to pass any taxes or budgets. The latter roadblock was lowered this last election, but when there’s no money to spend, lawmakers are reluctant to spend it on schools – so our real protesting should be happening later: that is, when the new budget is being developed and decisions about taxes are being made.

We want education, but nobody has money. The state is in debt, the school system doesn’t have enough money. The students certainly don’t have money and are either already in debt or going to get an education on borrowed money that will put them in debt. The only way to get some of the money people spend on their giant televisions to be put toward a more intelligent next generation is through the eternal equalizer of taxes.

While it’s certainly tragic that the highest quality of public education is completely impossible for a large proportion of our suitably intelligent population, it’s unclear how much worse these fee increases will make the situation. A year at State for undergraduates costs roughly $5,000, depending on housing choices and other variables. The current fee hike will raise that by around $300, which isn’t pocket change. But how many students or students’ families who are able to pay $5,000 won’t be able to add another $300? Students who rely on financial aid will continue to be able to do so, despite the fact that the CSU system is staggering under the weight of a projected 30,000 new students next year.

The Board members we’re painting as criminals really have their work cut out for them. The system might be flawed, and nobody likes having to pay more for something that’s already overpriced. But let’s not get caught barking up the wrong tree.