We’ve all seen the boring headlines: “Student fees increase again” or “Teachers on strike,” and most recently “Top execs get raise.” Who in their right mind would want to read about budgets, increases and administration? If I weren’t a journalism major and a reporter on the Mustang Daily staff, I’d probably skip right over these kinds of articles to get to the Sudoku or the juicy letters to the editor.
Believe it or not, these issues are actually important and relevant because they are affecting students, teachers and our bank accounts, but it’s not surprising that many students look past them. So what can we do to catch the attention of affected readers?
I propose that we use sensationalized, capitalized, bold, italicized, underlined, whatever-it-takes font to capture student eyes. The front page should read:
“HEY, CAL POLY STUDENTS, YOU’RE GETTING RIPPED OFF AGAIN SO GET OUT YOUR DAMN CHECKBOOKS!”
Or how about:
“THE BIG WIG WITH THREE BENZES AND A PISMO BEACH HOUSE IS GETTING 10,000 MORE BUCKS A YEAR!” Maybe that would be enough to peel students’ eyes away from the headlining Anna Nicole Smith or the “Britney’s Bald” cover story.
So if I have caught your attention, then let’s all get our wallets out and start counting the dollars because it’s that time once again. Student tuition fees will increase 10 percent this year if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new state budget is passed (very likely). Sure, why not? Students have been paying more and more each year, an amount that has doubled since 2002.
And sure, the state gave us a break last year, saying they wouldn’t increase our fees because students come first. But that was an election year, and since the officials are now sitting pretty in their comfy office chairs, they don’t need to please the people anymore. And we’re footing the bill for it.
Fine, fine, we’ll pay it (as if we had an actual say in the final decision). We’ll send our parents the e-mail that says: “Hey Mom and Dad, can you take an extra $252 out of our life savings so I can pay for the fees at school this year? I’ll sacrifice that tub of butter and extra loaf of bread. Little Susie can do without her milk too, right? Thanks for going into extreme debt and taking out numerous loans with interest rates that gouge holes through our roof just so I can go to an institute of higher education!”
OK, I’ll be mature about this. I’m going to a established, well-respected, successful university and I’m paying for a solid education that will lead me to a grade-A job. I can handle a couple extra buckaroos a quarter. But why does the CSU system seem so sneaky about it? It’s guaranteed that more than 90 percent of students on campus have no idea that they will be paying hundreds of dollars more next year to go to school. And the sky-high officials seem to like it like that.
I don’t see any flyers or forums on campus that inform students about fee increases. Instead they put out complicated press releases with I’m-smarter-than-you language written by higher administration that can barely see the paper in front of them because their noses are turned up so high.
Like I said though, I’ll fork over the dough. But as I feel the crisp bills in my hand, I can’t help but see them fall into a flaming pit of greedy hands. Why on earth would I feel this way? Maybe because at the same time that my fees are increasing, and at the same time that teachers are struggling with strikes and protests to boost their salaries, every CSU campus’ president and five top CSU executives are getting a four percent salary increase. THIS AMOUNTS TO $7 MILLION, PEOPLE. Sorry, I got carried away on the whatever-it-takes font to capture your attention. But seriously, $7 million to people who are already getting paid well over $200,000 a year, along with car and house compensations. Talk about the privileged elite.
Oh, but I forgot – we go to a public school where administration guarantees they are looking out for our well-being while spending tons of money on paying officers to give tickets to bicyclers who don’t make complete stops at intersections on campus. Good looking out for us, administration; we tip our hats to you, along with our coin jars.
Amanda Retzer is a journalism junior and Mustang Daily staff writer.