Trustees should delay hiking fees

It seems like every time the subject of tuition is raised (pun intended) the California State University Board of Trustees' hands begin to rub together lasciviously.

The trustees' Halloween prank this year, another 10 percent increase in student fees, failed to scare anyone. Any practical joker will tell you only the unexpected truly frightens. This fee increase shtick is old hat to any student who has been here for more than a year.

Tuition hikes have become so predictable, the Farmer's Almanac should add this seasonal event to their lunar calendar.

The reason for this regular financial hammering is an attempt to raise the fees full-time students pay to one-third the total cost of education. The brains-that-be in the Chancellor's Office compute that more than $2,000 should be enough for students to pay their share of the cost each year. Raising prices every semester without regard for the damage inflicted on students' wallets has been their strategy so far.

These back-to-back fee hikes (another ten percent increase was passed last year) place a very real financial strain on students. The trustees leave the students with only two options: pay or quit. The continuous bombardment of greater fees have students adjusting their income potential every semester. Many students can't make enough money working and going to school, so they drop out to work full-time for the next semester's fees.

These hard-luck students lose out when they discover the financial goal they've been saving for was raised again.

On top of this hassle is this university's policy of paying for the next semester smack in the middle of the current semester. Pardon us, but this seems like buying a car before taking a test drive. How are students to know whether they've just purchased a Gremlin for the price of a Ferrari?

A student can pay his or her tuition, register for classes and then, four months later, discover that the classes have all been cut. Bait and switch advertising is illegal, but apparently no one bothered to tell the trustees or the campus administrators.

If they can stand a little constructive criticism, we suggest that fees raise every third year. This would give students some time to repair the damage done to their pocketbooks. An average student would be subjected to only two fee increases in the time it takes to graduate.

To the students who are righteously fed up with the burdens of these policies, we have this proposal: As a practical joke on the administration, don't pre-register for next semester. Wait until the last possible moment - and then we'll see who will need to get an extra job or two.