Weighing in

Student walkouts at EWU and WSU last week, part of a statewide protest over skyrocketing tuition rates and expected state spending cuts for higher education, stirred rousing debate among readers. Here’s a sampling of the comments from www.spokesman.com.

Lewis: I am happy to see this; the kids are finally going to start standing up. That is what we need: more and more people standing up and saying we have had enough!

Empyrius: What bugs me most about these kids complaining about money is just that. We don’t see a massive student revolt against America’s illegal wars all over the world, but when it comes to money, boy o boy, the kids will rise up on that account.

Shanusmaximus: There is no more money. Period. Oh, you think you are going to cry and whine about budget cuts at school? HA! Think about how you are going to feel when you are standing in a food line by the time these insane “leaders” of ours push the entire country off of the cliff. … The only people that get money go by the name Goldman and Sachs.

Edmitch: The state is increasing tuition by 14 percent two years in a row. The tuition increases are a way to increase taxes without saying the state is increasing taxes. Sharp tuition increases are a tax hike that falls on all families with students attending public colleges (including community colleges) in the state, as well as families whose children will attend Washington public colleges in the future.

Spoketucky: The use of students as ATMs for higher education began a long time ago (mid, early ’90s) in Washington with laws that allowed students to levy higher fees upon themselves (i.e. tech fees, etc.) through a mock democratic process.

Kasey: I am a student at EWU and I think it is really offensive to call the student body here spoiled. I have had many friends who had to leave school because they can no longer afford to pay for school with the new tuition increase. My problem is not so much the budget cut but the way our school is responding to it. I feel like instead of cutting some of their salaries which are really high, they are taking away from the students.

Sixandseven: If I was making $500,000 a year as a school president I wouldn’t care either – even less as the UW pres makes nearly a million.

CheapScholar: I think that it is appropriate for these young people to voice their concerns about the state budget woes and the impact it is having on their educational expenses.

Westside: Like all universities, the upper bunch gets paid very well, hundreds of thousands and raises every year. That is why tuition keeps going up.