I woke up Tuesday morning to my Twitter and Facebook timelines being bombarded with the news of Chancellor Victor Boschini’s campus-wide e-mail that tuition would be increased to $34,500 for the 2012-2013 academic year. In the midst of the Occupy Colleges movement and the unrelenting fight against student loan default rates and post-college unemployment, the news of the rise of tuition was certainly disheartening.

For a brief moment, I had felt some encouragement after the Obama administration passed the student loan relief plan in October, in a desperate attempt to cater to the students around the country fighting for their futures. However, the decision to raise tuition quickly brought me back down to earth and ultimately felt like ten huge steps backwards in the midst of progression.

I completely understand the importance of construction and maintaining the best possible amenities on campus, but that does not change the fact that it often places a huge burden on college students. Every student that makes the decision to attend TCU knows what they are getting themselves into: It is a private institution and one of the most expensive in the state. We do, however, deserve some consistency, and not in the sense that prices will consistently rise throughout the duration of our time on this campus.

Honestly, it just seems to be getting more difficult for our generation to succeed, and although it is definitely not in the universities’ best interests for students to do poorly, the combination of rising tuition and a bad economy makes it practically inevitable. It is not typical of me to have such a pessimistic attitude, but I feel that I am looking at the situation exactly as it is.

I just feel that renovations are unavoidable and the maintenance around our campus will continue to set us back financially, but at some point we have to start looking in other places besides the students’ pockets for money, because after a certain point not a whole lot of students will even be able to accommodate it.

For administration to announce this increase in tuition and not expect students to be upset and voice their complaints is just impractical. The news of tuition hikes is very unsettling to many students, and an organized protest titled “Occupy Sadler” is set to take place Thursday afternoon on the Sadler Lawn. Whether or not the demonstration will alter the decision behind the rise is yet to be determined, but I do hope that it helps our faculty become more aware of the difficulties this increase presents for many students.

A diploma from TCU is undoubtedly worth a large sum of money, I just believe that it is important that the particular sum remains in the realm of accessibility.

Andrea Masenda is a junior journalism major from Denton, Texas.