Tuition Hikes VS Munchies

San Francisco is an expensive town! And being a college student in this city can add up real quick---Getting a coffee in the morning, two dollars. Paying for the bus too school and back, four dollars (unless u sneak on the back). Going out to a bar with friends, ten too fifteen dollars. Going out to eat on a date, twenty too thirty dollars. This town and our social lifestyles require something that most college students don’t have---money.

But the recent economic troubles of the country/state are forcing the people in Sacramento to reexamine the states expenses, most notable the state’s budget in education. It’s becoming obvious that college students in San Francisco (and up and down the coast) are going to have to find ways to accommodate the budget cuts, all the while trying to survive! California’s Education systems and Government have proposed a 650 million dollar cut to the UC, CSU, and Community College System for 2012. The plan laid out by Governor Jerry Brown is pushing the college student food budget to the point of “top ramien” meals daily. Chris Chavez, President of the CSU Student Association said, "California needs to know that cuts have consequences. They sound good in sound bites but they have real effects on real people."

The extra thousands spent on tuition, books and rent--- are now being spent on non-educational factious, rather than making it to the students personal FASFA checks. Why should the problems of the state be passed onto students? I thought college life was supposed to be a time of development and excitement? Sure were suppose too struggle, it’s the lifestyle of a college student. But not having that extra money every semester is forcing students to come up with drastic ways to stretch their food budget. Why do I have to eat on a budget that resembles a homeless man?  Its bad enough that the majority of classes are being cut, teacher pay is going down, and the prices of books have reached a point of insanity! Then the California government has the nerve to ask us to then sacrifice the quality of food we eat. It feels like the state problems are being dumped onto a majority that cant afford to take on these measures, more importantly wont do anything about the problem.

I personally feel that its unfair to ask so much from a group of people who only want to better themselves. I understand that we live in a time of uncertainty, but why go after a group of people and their livelihood! Food should be an area of the college life that shouldn't be as uncertain as the class catalog. Just because I'm a college student, doesn't mean I want to eat pasta six days of the week! I want a quailty of food/life, just like all of you do! Because no matter how bad the economic situation gets---you should always be able to get your munchies!