**Tuition hike hurts students’ future**
_By Jennifer Sandy, Riverside City College Viewpoints_

California State University tuition fees will increase by at least 10 percent in the upcoming 2011-12 academic year.

Many Riverside City College students planning on graduating and transferring to one of the 23 Cal State campuses will be left scrambling to find a way to fund their continuing education.

For many, such as siblings Genevieve and Gerard Weaver, who are both graduating from RCC this semester, this means going into debt.

“Our only option is to take out a loan,” Gerard said. “It’s unfortunate, because when I graduate I don’t want to have to worry about paying something back.”

The same thing concerns Genevieve. “With both of us graduating and moving on at the same time, it means we’ll be thousands of dollars in debt by the time we graduate, respectively,” she said.

Others, such as Yvette Perales, work for a company that has agreed to pay for their education in exchange for full time work.

“It’s really nice because it takes such a huge burden off my family, and no matter how much the rates increase, I’m covered,” Perales said.

According to Perales, many companies offer to pay for their employees’ education if they have worked for the company full time for a year or more. Some students’ parents had started a college fund for them but are now having to turn to the workforce to supplement it.

“My parents started a college fund for me when I was born,” Alyssa Moore said.

“They put a little in each year, and a few years ago it was enough to fund four years of college. Now it isn’t. I’m looking for a full time job to help.”

**Board reviews controversial relationship at UVM**
_By Brent Summers, The Vermont Cynic_

The University of Vermont’s Board of Trustees is investigating the relationship between President Daniel Mark Fogel’s wife, Rachel Kahn-Fogel, and Michael Shultz, associate vice president for development and alumni relations.

Kahn-Fogel sent sexually suggestive email messages to Shultz for more than six years, according to an article in Seven Days.

“From a fiduciary perspective the Board of Trustees takes its responsibilities and obligations very seriously,” Board Chair Robert Cioffi told Seven Days.

“While we respect privacy concerns, we must and will do what’s right for UVM,” Cioffi said.

Kahn-Fogel has also been ordered to step down from her role in planning development events at UVM, according to the Burlington Free Press.

President Fogel said that the allegations are deeply disturbing and revealed for the first time that his wife has been struggling with mental health conditions her whole life, according to an issued statement from the president’s office.

“I care deeply for my wife and hope we will be afforded the personal space necessary for us as we take the time to work through an ongoing course of treatment,” he said.

**North Carolina Senate budget targets education**
_John Wall, The Technician Online_

The North Carolina Senate proposed cuts to the state’s public education system, and Governor Bev Purdue has vowed to veto the budget if it is left unchanged.

The state Senate released a budget proposal Tuesday, making multiple changes to the House’s submitted budget. The Senate Appropriations Committee met Wednesday morning to discuss the budget, according to Jo Ann Norris, president and executive director of North Carolina Teaching Fellows, one of the several programs on the chopping block.

Norris, who serves as the Teaching Fellows’ Legislative and Commission Liaison, said she believes the Senate will accept the bill.

The budget approval process works as follows: first, the Governor proposes a budget; second, the House creates its own budget after reviewing the Governor’s; third, the House’s budget is sent to the Senate, but the Senate makes its own budget; fourth, the budget is sent back down to the House, and a joint committee is formed to hash out differences between the House and Senate’s budgets; finally, the joint budget is sent to the Governor for approval.

Currently, Republicans dominate the state Senate with a ratio of 31 to 19. Republicans, who outnumber Democrats 67 to 52, also control the House.

Regardless of who controls the legislature, Perdue said she wouldn’t accept a budget that will deal a severe blow to public education.