Day 106

This afternoon, we've been talking about the fee hikes, and wondering how on earth we are going to fund our department's graduate students. Doctoral students typically enjoy what many institutions call a "tuition waiver," which we also provide here at Berkeley. Except the tuition isn't waived; the money is actually paid from a department account to the university. Parents in the UC system are not the only ones who are going to suffer financially from the increase in tuition and fees. The very departments that make up the university will also have to dig deep into the waiting area couch cushions to find extra change. When we can't find the change, we will have to enroll fewer students, which will have a negative impact on the undergraduate classroom, and we will lose many top students to competitor institutions, potentially diminishing the quality of our program and ultimately, the university. And the merry-go-round spins round and round and round...