By Staff Editorial

Education cut (Jasmeet Singh / Photo Editor )
By Staff Editorial
The budget cuts seem to be a topic that is just like the ever ending story, that is, a never ending story.
With so much being cut from the funding for colleges across the state, it’s hard to feel anything but discontent.
Classes are being cut faster than the blink of an eye and it is the students who suffer the most. Yet, they have had little to say on any budgetary planning that goes on.
That’s not to say that others are not suffering as well.
The budget cuts are impacting instructors and college officials as well.
With less classes, the numbers on their paychecks are probably dropping as fast as the number of classes.
So many proposals are being thought up and put on the table, but more often than not it seems like those proposals come from people whose everyday life won’t be too severely damaged by them.
For the most part California is in a pretty big hole. According to the Department of Finance the K-12 and higher education systems are a combined 54.4 percent of the state’s spending. This means that the current budget deficit will hurt students both in college and grade school.
If the students make up more than half the budget, why is it that only someone with a fancy title and a suit makes the proposals that will in turn either hurt or help the students?
If so much money is being cut from colleges across the state why aren’t the students voices being heard much more than they are now?
It will inevitably be the students’ who will have to come to terms with what happens, so it makes sense that their opinions and ideas should be considered more so than those who couldn’t keep track of the money to begin with.
That is not to say that every idea thrown out by every college student will be a success, in actuality it might be a total disaster.
But if the students are going to have to cope with everything going on, their ideas should be on a higher priority, not board officials or state officials or whoever, since they will not be the ones who have to cope with the situation at hand.
If the students at RCC and all college campuses do not speak up and speak out soon, then when the time comes where the voices of said students are finally heard it will have been far too late.
It is imperative that the students as a whole not only think of ways to help with the looming budget crises, but share those ideas.
They are the ones who will take the force of any and every budgetary and economic storm that comes. To stand idly by as things get worse will not, in any way, help make things better.
Consider this a classic call to action, where the student body rises up to meet the challenge. It will not be easy, but too often any small whimper of a voice that is whispered from the student population goes unnoticed.
The time for that to change is now. The time to stand up and get active is now. The time to make change is now.
Until students as a whole learn to get involved with the growing budget cuts, anyone who continues to attend college and universities will have to sit back and watch as fees increase.
The privilege to attend college is just that, a privilege, it’s something that is earned, worked for, fought hard for.
To not do everything possible to protect that, and let increasing costs hold anyone back is simply insane. In a world where everything seems to be falling apart, the students cannot afford to lose their education.