Sometimes I have this dream that money can grow on trees. In it, I frolic happily through the forest, picking $100 bills whenever I feel the need. In my fantasy land money is no longer evil and the world is a lovely place.

Of course then I wake up and am thrust violently back to the reality that is life. Money cannot grow on trees and cannot sprout from the ground like potatoes either. I work over 20 hours a week and attend school full-time. There are bills to pay and work is the only way to achieve that.

Signing off all my money to rent, utilities, and the ever-increasing school bill are all in a day’s normal routine. Food can often become a distant fourth, so I apologize if my growling stomach disrupts anyone who is trying to concentrate.

My stomach might talk a little less and my complaining might even evaporate if so much of my hard-earned cash was not invested into tuition. Tuition seems to be jumping at unpredictable rates with our falling economic condition and state budget cuts.

In studies done by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Educational Statistics, the average increase of tuition per year in the 1990s was around 4 percent. To me this seems reasonable. However, according to the research done on the subject, even this small increase outpaced both inflation and the average institutional expenditures.

That tiny little 4 percent increase makes me laugh. Those people did not even know what a tuition hike was. Here at Iowa State, students have jumped on the tuition roller coaster and climbed the largest hill. Last year’s increase, which was just shy of 20 percent, assures we can fully comprehend the distinction between the decades. I even had a professor who told us that in the early ’80s her tuition per quarter was less than 200 bucks.

But I do understand we are living in different times. Our economy is dropping and states are having to cut back in areas they may not want to. The events of last September are still affecting the way of life in America.

Our economy has suffered and so have our state governments. Last year, almost single-handedly, the Iowa Legislature dealt college kids the largest tuition increase ever in the state because of their curtailments in postsecondary education.

Perhaps because elections are coming up, Governor Tom Vilsack has proposed a plan to ease the pain that comes with the cost of college. He believes that the state should pay the interest on loans for any student who remains in Iowa for at least five years after graduation. According to Vilsack, this could potentially kick back $3,000 or more to the student and cost the state roughly $40 million.

Now personally I think it is great that good old Tom has realized college students are of voting age because he seems a bit more willing to accommodate us. Sadly though, he has completely missed the boat. Money does not grow on trees.

We need help paying for this expense now. It is more pertinent to receive it here in the present than a few years down the road.

That $40 million would be better spent controlling the cost of state-funded schools and ensuring the quality at the school matches the price students are paying.

Quite honestly, the price we are paying only matters to a point. Last year I came to the realization that now matter how high tuition gets, I will pay the price. I suspect in the end it is worth it. I may eat those words in ten years when I am jobless and living with my parents, but for now I will stand by them. Bread and water may end up as my gourmet dinner but at least it is food. It works for prison inmates, after all. Hopefully it can stop my stomach from complaining about the next tuition increase.

Ayrel Clark

is a sophomore in journalism and mass communications from Johnston. She is a member of the Daily’s

editorial board.