Students throughout the Cal State University are participating in the California State Student Association’s “The Buck Starts Here” campaign by writing out their frustrations with budget cuts to show the California Legislature the importance of higher education.
The campaign began Nov. 7 with San Diego State students rallying against last year’s $650 million budget cuts by the California State Legislature.
According to CSSA Vice President of Legislative Affairs Sean Richards, students were given fake $650 million dollar bills to write their personal stories on.
The bills were placed in a box that will circulate throughout the 23 CSU campuses in hopes of collecting numerous student testimonies.
The campaign will end March 5, when the box of mock-bills will be brought to Gov. Jerry Brown during the annual March for Higher Education.
According to Richards, the campaign was first invented by a frustrated Sacramento State Associated Students Inc. senator who wanted to spread awareness to Brown and the general public on how the steep budget cuts have affected students.
“The frustration is with the legislation,” Richards said. “Gov. Brown just happens to be the symbolic figure.”
“The Buck Starts Here” was organized under the “Made in the CSU” program, a mission to educate the public on the importance of higher education.
“For every dollar the state invests on higher education, they receive $5 and 43 cents in return,” Richards said. “For California to recover [economically], we need an educated workforce.”
According to the “Made in the CSU” official website, more than 9,000 people are graduated into the workforce by the CSU every year, sustaining more than 150,000 jobs annually.
CSSA is expecting a turnout of about 25,000 students at the march. However, Richards said it is impossible to estimate how many fake bills they will receive.
“I can’t even tell you how excited I am,” Richards said. “I’m empathic to students who are so stressed from the budget.”
Since 2008, CSU student fees have increased by 200 percent. A potential cut of another $100 million may occur by the end of 2011.
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