FYI

Students at California's public Universities are fed up about the cost of their education and they are doing something about it.

Fees at the University of California and California State University have gone up five of the past six years. In anticipation that fees will increase yet again this year, students are mobilizing to freeze college costs for five years.

After that period, fees could increase annually no more than the change in the California Consumer Price Index.

Students in yellow T-shirts are trying to collect 434,000 valid signatures by April to put the College Affordability Act of 2008 on the November ballot.

Today it costs about $24,000 a year on average to attend a UC campus, which includes books, living expenses and transportation. Tuition alone, at $7,511, has risen more than tenfold since 1980.

It costs about $15,000 annually to attend a California State University campus, including books and on-campus living expenses.

The College Affordability Act would tax those with incomes of $1 million or more an additional 1 percent. That money would then be allocated to fund public education.

Technorati Tags: Tuition, Appropriations, CA, Penn State

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