UC Students Protest Tuition Hikes

Recently, the University of California system decided to raise tuition fees a whopping 32% a year. Needless to say, students in the UC system were not pleased. This is particularly relevant to Asian Americans given that there is a significant Asian student population in many UC colleges.

As a result, students have staged protests over the tuition hike on campuses throughout California. I was in the LA/San Diego area last week, and the local news in San Diego noted that students there had were planning to stage "direct action" protests in response to these tuition increases.

Similar protests were staged at UCLA and UC-Berkeley. The UCLA protest resulted in confrontations with police and some students being arrested and tasered. Video of the protest can be found here:

http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/news/watch/v19401192CSAe42cn#

An informative account of the student protests at UCLA can also be found on the Asian Pacific Americans for Progress (APAP) website:

http://www.apaforprogress.org/students-color-fight-back-u-california

Here is a good description of the impact of the tuition hikes from APAP that really puts them into context in terms of the cost for students:

What this means is that an undergraduate (in-state) in the UC will be paying about $30,000 for a school year (fees, room & board).  People getting their masters in Social Work will be paying about $40,000 per year for fees, room and board.  Other professional students (law, medical, MBA, etc.) might be paying on up to $50,000 per year or more...

I've heard people comment that the increases in tuition and college costs in general has really turned higher education into a system where students are compelled to go tens of thousands of dollars into debt for a degree that may not lead to a good job afterwards.

In short, education has turned into an economic scam or racket for universities. 

It's big business and students are nothing more than a revenue stream.