UC students in Los Angeles almost shut down a UC Board of Regents hearing this morning on the UCLA campus. The board was considering a 32 percent increase in undergraduate fees and students were so outraged by the increase that they flooded the meeting, chanting, interrupting and holding a raucous protest outside.
The estimated cost per student if the fee is passed will be $2,500. That’s an enormous increase, especially for students who already face loan balances making them indentured—but educated—servants. The students’ frustration is understandable. In fact, most taxpayers can completely sympathize. The state government just started withholding an additional 10 percent from our paychecks. And the legislature continually passes new taxes and fees to pay for their pet projects.
College students are notorious for being steeped in liberal ideology, envisioning a socialist utopia in which government, in the words of our president, spreads the wealth around. Isn’t that just what the UC Board of Regents is doing? They need to take some extra money from undergraduates to help pay for those professors who preach the liberal gospel to young, receptive minds.
These student protesters are learning a valuable real world experience before they even graduate—money isn’t made out of thin air, it’s earned through hard work. Now that they understand how average taxpayers feel about government confiscation of their hard-earned dollars, the UC students should take the next step in their real-world education—join the tea party protesters and demand a government that doesn’t punish productive taxpayers. I’d love to see these students flood a capitol committee hearing and protest all the taxes and fees they’ll be paying as soon as they graduate.