As students, we have to realize that things cost money. Our education costs money. And someone has to pay for it. The Board of Regents is supposed to meet to consider raising tuition by 3.75 percent for next year. That increase is low compared to other raises in the recent past, but state funding for Iowa’s public universities has declined every year since 1977.

Having a college degree is now almost essential to obtain a halfway decent job and pursue what was long ago labeled the American dream, with suburban life in a house with cars in the driveway. Maintaining even a precarious livelihood often requires having a college degree among your credentials.

The mission of the state-supported Regents universities is to educate students in such a way that they benefit both the public world and the private world. Each sphere has a stake in a large body of educated people and, especially for land-grant institutions such as our own Iowa State University, were founded with that dual mission in mind.

We cannot ask the truly good people of the state of Iowa nor alumni who contribute to fundraising efforts to bear the brunt of our education costs. The proposed increase is supposed to cost in-state students an additional $240 per year. For out-of-state students, the additional cost for tuition would be $480. That’s a reasonable amount.

If it’s a choice between cutting funding and programs, and having to spend more money to come to school here, we choose spending more money. College students all over the country and world choose to go to schools that instill in their students a first-rate education and charge a pretty penny for it.

A larger amount of money in the university’s coffers allows a greater diversity of services it can provide students. That broader range makes Iowa State a better institution.

That diversity serves both students and the university’s mission. If Iowa State offers 100 majors and thousands of courses each semester, students from all disciplines can learn useful information and skills taught in courses outside their majors as well as indulge hobbies or special interests such as music, art, history or chemistry.

As students take that diverse education out into the world of work, they can appreciate other cultures and perspectives as valuable in their own right and, based on that familiarity, work with them.

But students are part of the university community, too. We need to put in some effort and do our part to keep Iowa State a great place. We have an interest in the quality of this place and need to be willing to pay for it.