If political heads like Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger take away our financial aid, cut course sections, increase fees and deny access to new students, not only will it delay our graduation, but at the same time it will hurt California’s economy even further.

Students like me are struggling to get out of that “social status” of having a low income by working hard and getting our education. To move along in life we might have to juggle a full time job, have non-paid internships, go to school and of course try to catch up to whatever is left of our social life with family, friends and lovers. To continue our education, students completely depend on the financial aid we get every semester because otherwise it would be impossible to afford all our classes

I believe most of us are already informed that the economy in the U.S. has taken a wrong turn from where it was before. Everyone is feeling the change in their pockets. Everything has gotten more expensive and with gas prices soaring, those changes in our pockets are falling off. Since Californians are heavily depend ent on their vehicles, gasoline becomes almost as necessary as water.

Like many of the students who have found out about this horrible news, I am devastated with Schwarzenegger’s proposal on a 10 percent budget cut. The proposal could be approved on July 13, 2008. The CSU Students for Equality Education have informed us that the governor has proposed CSU budget cuts that will amount to $386 million. CSUN may have to subtract between $7 million and $21 million from its budget.

Some of our friends have had to transfer to community colleges for that reason; but due to this proposal, there would be a 10 percent fee increase that would be affecting non CSU students. No one will be saved as community colleges which will also be cut.

Because of this cut, close to 10,000 qualified students , who would be Freshman in the Fall of 2008, will be denied the opportunity to attend a CSU. Shockingly though, it is being proposed to eliminate the Cal Grant, something that students depend on entirely to pay for their education.

According to the CSU’s 2004 report, “Working for California: The Impact of the CSU,” CSUs graduate about 90,000 students who go work for the state’s workforce each year. These graduates go into nursing, education, business, agriculture, life sciences, criminal justice and public administration. These professions are very crucial to our nation’s economic force and to keep our society secure. One state does make a signifant impact and this budget cut in California would send a rippling effect across the nation.

I am infuriated the governor did not even graduate college to get the position he is in. He did attend business school, but obviously did not finish. How would he know all the struggles students go through in college, not to mention those students who completely depend on financial aid? Many of us are not lucky enough to get such a prominent and important working position without having a college degree.

On average, it is taking the regular CSUN student six years to graduate. With the budget cut, how many more years will it take us? Do people understand the impact of this budget cut? It means that more course sections will be cut, classes will continue to be overcrowded, staff might be cut, and clearly it means students will be spending more years in school. I know that I am not the only one finding it very difficult to get into the classes I need. For some of my peers, it has taken them two to three semesters to get one class they need that has been holding them back from graduation.

The Educational Opportunity program, located in University Hall 205, offers advisement services to students regardless of their income status. Some of EOP’s aid was already reduced, but they fought to save EOP when the government wanted it cut. With this cut, would there be an EOP anymore?

This proposal has not been signed into law yet, but few students are uniting to fight this. Here at CSUN, the only information that has been given has been by members of MECHA or CSU Students for Equality Education. To express your oppositions to the budget cut, you can send an e-mail to yourvoice_csun@yahoo.com. One opportunity to get involved is the upcoming rally on April 8 near the bookstore.

We should encourage our senators or assembly members to restore the proposed CSU budget cuts. With the Associated Students elections coming up on April 8 and 9, we can start voicing our opinions through our selected leaders.

Students should look for ways to express their opinions about the budget cut. We can write and call senators and assembly members or we can join or make a group that wants to be active in making this change that could affect us and the future generations to come. We can make a significant impact to the future of California’s workforce, economy, and education, so let’s do something about it and fight to keep what we have.