Last Thursday the state Board of Regents raised my tuition by 3.9 percent.

I’m not sure why.

Every year tuition goes up. That I can understand, since every year, inflation goes up. As everything in the country costs more, so should education.

That makes some sense.

But what doesn’t make sense to me is why must the cost of education at a public university go up at a rate consistently higher than inflation? And it nearly always does.

Projections have the inflation rate next year — when the increase will take hold — between 3.0 and 3.3 percent.

The regents, it seems, have taken more than their share. Everything else will get between 3.0 and 3.3 percent, including my loaf of bread, my gas, my rent, my shoes and my soap. But my education — my education at a public institution designed to be inclusive — will get 3.9 percent next year. If I want my degree, that’s what I’m stuck with. I don’t think that’s fair.

It’s not that I can’t afford it. In real numbers, it’s only going to cost me about 50 dollars more. I’m graduating next December, meaning I’ll only have to pay one semester’s worth of the new tuition.

I’ve got a good job. Fifty bucks isn’t that much. For some it might be. For me it’s not.

But that’s not the point. The point is that’s my 50 dollars. Mine. I earned it. I worked hard for it, and I don’t know if I want to give it to the regents. I may choose to buy frivolous things with it. I may even choose to buy — God forbid — beer with it.

I can do these things. It’s my 50 dollars.

Higher education is already pretty expensive. I’m lucky that I’ve got a job. I’m lucky that I’ve got parents who have the means to help me out. Without both, I wouldn’t be here.

Yes, the taxpayers of Iowa subsidize my education. The taxpayers, me included, subsidize a lot of things, some out of need, some out of special interests.

But unlike many of the bills we taxpayers foot, we get something back from higher education. We get a better trained, more productive work force for one, and that ultimately benefits everyone.

What’s more, Mr. and Mrs. Regent didn’t listen. In raising tuition, regents justified it with more financial aid. Think about this now — think hard. Why would you give out more money only to take it back? This makes no sense.

Student Body President Adam Gold asked Mr. and Mrs. Regent this. Regent Tom Dorr asked his cohorts this. I haven’t heard a good answer. Maybe that’s because there just isn’t one.

Mr. and Mrs Regent said they are trying to improve higher education at ISU, Iowa and UNI. There is nothing wrong with that.

But like any government or private corporation, improvements must fall within the confines of your means. It’s simply unfair to demand that students expand those means year after year.

And with all due respect, I question whether Mr. and Mrs. Regent really know why they are again asking students to cough up more. I’ve served on boards that meet monthly, like the regents. I know all too well that it’s easy to fall into the, “We simply have to have more money” trap.

Regent Aileen Mahood says the board should show students what Mr. and Mrs. Regent have done with the additional money from this hike when justifying future hikes.

This is a little backward.

It implies that I’m supposed to give Mr. and Mrs. Regent my 50 dollars so they can make “improvements,” and then when Mr. and Mrs. Regent want another 50 dollars, they’ll tell me the great things they did with the first 50 dollars.

Huh? Tell me now. Tell me why I have to pay more for the same services, and then I’ll tell you if I want you to take my 50 dollars.

If you want to add another zero to a football or basketball coach’s salary, I don’t want you to have my 50 dollars. If you want to keep adding names to the list of super-high-paid administrators, I don’t want you to have my 50 dollars.

I suppose there are some things for which I’d be willing to give Mr. and Mrs. Regent my 50 dollars, but I’d still have to know why those things couldn’t be done within the confines of the existing budget, adjusted of course for inflation.

The real problem is that it’s too easy for Mr. and Mrs. Regent to raise tuition. As a group of nine that has little or no contact with students, blame is diffused through numbers and distance.

And the problem is compounded by students who don’t think much of the increases because they’re only 50 dollars a pop. But it really adds up fast.

It’s this cycle that’s driving the cost of higher education through the roof. To break it, students have to demand that Mr. and Mrs. Regent work within their means.

I’ll start: “Ahem! Mr. and Mrs. Regent? For what it’s worth, I’d like you not to take my 50 dollars. Thank you.”

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Chris Miller is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Marshalltown. He is editor in chief of the Daily.