LOS ANGELES- On November 19, 2009 College students from across California united together at the University of California, Los Angeles, outside the meeting of the UC Regents to decry the approval of 32% tuition hikes.

The California College Democrats strongly encouraged students to attend the protest at UCLA, helping lead the fight for justice in public higher education in California. Students traveled from universities throughout the state to UCLA in order to demonstrate against the UC Regents meeting and the vote to raise tuition. Turnout for the rallies totaled about 600 people at UCLA, 1,000 at UC Berkeley, and 300 at UC Davis. CCD Vice President of Membership Ian Blue spoke in opposition to the Regents’ actions, stressing the need to search for new sources of income for education, rather than continuing with such drastic cuts.

Over the following two semesters, UC students will see the implementation of this fee increase. The only Regent to vote against this proposal was Student Regent Jesse Bernal. This will be the first time that yearly tuition for UCs has risen to over $10,000, a result of 300% in fee increases since 2001. In addition, UCs continue to face furloughs and reduced class offerings, meaning students would be paying more for a drastically decreased quality of education. Young Democrats at UCI President Lauren Lee, who was present at the rally, said “As a student who is paying for the majority of her own education, the 32% increase means I may be paying off students loans until I after I retire."

These protests at UC campuses only mark a portion of the fight that is yet to come from students in California. The University of California system lost 20% of state support during the last budget cycle, and with a potential $20.7 billion deficit in the upcoming fiscal year, the education system needs new revenues for education from Sacramento.

One proposal to raise revenues that CCD is actively organizing to support is Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico’s AB 656, which would raise funds for public higher education through a severance tax on California’s natural gas and oil. Blue said, “The only way to restore this failure of the public higher education system in California is by fixing Sacramento. We must start by passing AB 656, establishing majority rule in California, and electing a Democratic governor in 2010 who believes in prioritizing public higher education.”