Jessica Tollefson Social Control Article #3

Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Amid student protests, the University of California's Board of Regents finance committee approved a 32 percent hike in undergraduate tuition fees Wednesday, to take effect on two steps over the next year.A persistent financial crisis in the California state government makes the increase necessary to avoid even deeper spending cuts, school executives said.The budget vote, during a meeting on the UCLA campus Wednesday afternoon, came as hundreds of students, faculty and campus workers protested outside.Several students were arrested Wednesday morning after they disrupted the regents' meeting with chanting, police said.Other protests, including "tent cities," were underway on other University of California campuses across the state.The full board of regents is expected to approve the plan Thursday morning, University Vice President Lynn Tierney said.The first tuition hike, which takes effect in January, will cost undergraduate students an additional $585 a semester, Tierney said.The second hike kicks in next fall, raising tuition another $1,344, she said."It's going to prevent a lot of students from low-income families to be able to afford to come to this university," said Leah Johnson, a UCLA undergraduate student. "If there's a public university, it's suppose to represent the public."The fee increases would be balanced by a raise in "the level of financial assistance for needy low- and middle-income students," according to a statement from the Board of Regents.University executives told the regents the fee hikes are needed since they've already made deep spending cuts in the past two years -- cuts forced by the state budget.About 26 percent of the $20 billion spent each year by the system comes from the state's general fund and tuition and fees paid by students, according to a summary on the regent's Web site.

Tuition is already ridiculous, luckily here in New Mexico we have been blessed with the lottery scholarship and I am still extremely thankful for such a program. Those without programs such as the Lottery Scholarship have to pay hundreds and thousands for tuition, books, and housing and now with increasing costs it is making college an unattainable dream for many students. The economy is messing with us all, but we are being controlled to it in such an extent people aren't even attempting college level dreams and aspirations in fear of debt that will occur because of it. There has to be a different explanation for students and the tuition hikes because we are being controlled dramatically by the economy and falling victims to something we created, we should be able to fix it.