Tuition hikes spark UC Berkeley protests

BERKELEY, Calif.

Officials thought it was going to be a massive protest, but as it turned out only two dozen students showed up. They wrote anti tuition hike messages on the concrete because they angry the Board of Regents approved tuition increases for about 188,000 students. Some of those attending UC schools will have to pay $822 more per year.

One of the protestors thinks there is no need to raise tuition at all and the UC Regents numbers just don't add up.

"We don't understand what's going on. The university got more money from the state – that's $370 million, they increased the fees by 32 percent last year, that's $350 million. The math does not work," Tanya Smith said.

Protesters found an ally in Senate Pro Tem President Darrell Steinberg. He released a statement saying: "We must fundamentally restructure government as we know it. Our system is broken and we can no longer afford to limp by the fiscal equivalent of duct tape."

Some of the messages written on some buildings were "we need a revolution," another said "no hike in fees." But one message in honor of tomorrow's Big Game read, "beat Stanford, don't become it."

Copyright © 2024 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.