Reuters is so cute:

California students protest fees

SAN FRANCISCO, March 4 (Reuters) - University of California students take to the streets on Thursday to protest fee hikes, campus racism, and what they call privatization of the public system that was a beacon for the state in the 1960s.

Students are not alone in their dissatisfaction. Polls show residents see California headed the wrong way with a gaping budget shortfall, legislative gridlock, slashed social services and double-digit joblessness.

Students are upset that the state of California won't be giving away enough fee stuff — which is, apparently, exactly the same concern shared by most other California residents. Right, Reuters?

Racist acts, including a swastika and anti-gay graffiti has raised temperatures on campuses.

I wasn't aware "gay" was now a race. We can learn so much from the smart people at Reuters.

Fee hikes of more than 30 percent to over $10,000 per year will make the university more costly than rivals in other states.

They've only been paying $7,000 or so per year for a first-class university education? My heart weeps bitterly for them. (Don't ask how much I owed in student loans.) California's taxpayers, many of whom are less privileged than these students (and will never hope to earn as much) should cough up, instead, to prevent these students from having to pay for the value they're receiving.

"Beyond the fact that there isn't money..."

Details! But what could be more horrifying than bankruptcy?

"...there is a sense that education has become a private good," University of California spokesman Pete King said.

Oh no! Capitalism!

Pete: Any time you feel like (a) quitting your state-funded job, and pledging to work only in the private sector, so you create wealth rather than consuming it, and also (b) give away the majority of your salary — then I'll believe that your own education wasn't mostly a "private good," from your point of view.