Student apathy has been a problem for San Jose City College seemingly forever.

We need to combat this apathy and get students more involved to make our campus better for everyone.

This apathy is felt through classes, where more students drop than make it to their finals, the Associated Students, where there are so few students applying for the jobs that many are shoo-ins for the job and even with fee increases, where many students do not care enough to wonder what exactly they are paying for.

Students interested in positions on the Associated Students Council only need to put their names on a ballot to have a decent chance of winning.

We need more students to apply for these positions. We need the diversity in the ballot rather than allowing the candidate who spent just enough time to get on the ballot to win.

With a new fee increase next semester, one would think students would finally get off their rears and complain. Sadly, it seems that students are more apathetic than ever.

We look to the causes of this apathy and find that many of the students with the highest tuition burden, the international students, still find the tuition more affordable compared to other community colleges and state schools.

Many students with the highest extracurricular burden and those taking multiple jobs to make ends meet do not care because all of their tuition is waived with the Board of Governors Fee Waiver. What is left is usually covered through government programs.

During the March in March, the statewide rally in Sacramento to support higher education at reasonable cost, is essentially the only time you will see students up in arms over school financial problems.

Even then, many students only go because it is a way to cut class without an absence.

There has been a vocal minority on the issue with students both against and for the fee increase.

Students against the fee cite the rising costs of college as the reason for their oppostiton.

Students for the fee increase describe problems with attending state schools due to the new budgetary problems and how community colleges remain a much cheaper option.

Unless students feel more strongly about the issue, however, the vocal minority against the fee increase will be overwhelmed by supporters of the fee increase merely because, in this case, silence implies consent.

So please step up and vocalize your opinion. Please send in letters that we can print regarding campus issues.

Talk to your administrators and teachers. Without students talking about what they want to get out of their education and the price that education entails, we will leave the next generation stuck with poor decisions.