San Jose State is increasing tuition and student fees.

Again.

The announcement aroused the ire of the student body, expressed vociferously at last week's meeting to discuss increasing tuition and fees. Students spoke out against the increases with a unified voice... well, almost unified. Although doing so may make me unpopular among my peers, I strongly support the fee increases.

If the goal is to make higher education more accessible to low-income individuals, increasing fees will do just that. This seems counterintuitive, but it's the truth. To see why, consider a hypothetical situation that isn't far from reality.

Let's assume that the total cost of educating a student at SJSU is $5,000 per year, which is probably a very low estimate. If fees are set at $3,000, then I automatically receive a scholarship of $2,000. Every single student at SJSU receives that scholarship, even students from very wealthy families. If we reduce the amount of that automatic, tax-subsidized scholarship and set tuition closer to actual cost, then there would be more funds available for targeted grants and loans to low-income students.

But even if we ignore the economics and look at this from the perspective of morality, the increased tuition is fair and just. Right now there are hundreds of thousands of low-income Californians paying for education they do not receive. We, the students, enjoy the benefits of a higher education, yet we stick taxpayers with the bill.

According to an article in Newsweek, nearly half the students currently enrolled in the UC and CSU systems come from the wealthiest 25% of families. Conversely, only 10% of students come from the lowest quarter. In other words, we are subsidizing the wealthy at the expense of the poor. The state is involuntarily extracting money from the paychecks of dishwashers in order to enrich future engineers and businessmen. That is morally indefensible. And yet naive and idealistic students march in the name of social justice.

A study conducted by Gary Becker, Nobel laureate economist with the University of Chicago, found that college graduates earn 80% more than those without college degrees. We enjoy the benefits of a college education, so we should pay the cost. Why do we expect strangers to finance our education?

Many students at least week's meeting demanded that "The State" pay the fee increases. There seems to be a misguided tendency to view "The State" as an independent, autonomous entity. In a very real sense, "The State" does not pay for anything, it merely extracts wealth from the wallets and savings accounts of actual human beings. What "The State" gives to me it must first take away from someone else. Ain't no free lunch.

Any real solution to this problem would aim at reducing the total cost of higher education, not simply how that cost is distributed. In the meantime, students should stop being self-centered and do what is in the best interest of society.