On Thursday, at least a hundred people marched into California’s capital at Sacramento, carrying a petition. Some of them had been marching for more then a month throughout the state. The crowd consists of students, teachers, and workers from various colleges, a veritable juggernaut of academia. And all they want to do is stay in school.

In November 2009, the University of California management board voted to increase college tuition by 32 percent. This sparked massive protests throughout the state. Now, more budget cuts and tuition hikes (including nearly doubling the price per unit of some of the state’s largest community colleges) might be on the way, and newly outraged students have assembled again.

But the crisis is nationwide, and California isn’t alone. Public universities in Mississippi are planning for 7 percent increases by 2012. In North Carolina, it’s an 8 percent increase.  At the University of Arizona, 15 percent. It’s already confirmed that tuition at the UW will rise by 14 percent next year, and a federal plan means that other public state college prices could increase by a maximum of 7 percent. That would mean an average of $700 more a year to go to school.

Some colleges are trying other tactics to save money: accepting more out-of-state students, for instance, because colleges know they’ll have to pay much more. (Example? The unusually high number of Garfield students accepted into UC Berkely this year. Yes, there’s a reason.) This doesn’t make local students very happy.

A different walk-out happened at the UW on March 4th, organized by the Student-Worker Commision,. Due to other legislature, the UW could lose $50 million from the Senate and House budget proposals.

For some, rising prices mean family debt. “The middle class has been financing it through debt. The scenario has been that families that have a history of sending kids to college will do whatever if takes, even if that means a huge amount of debt,” said Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, who worked with the California protests.

For others, the solution is simpler. No college.

Since the economy has a tendancy to screw up everybody’s plans these days, skyrocketing college prices aren’t necessarily a surprise. But they are troubling. “Go to University,” said Keith Davis to Garfield’s assembled student body, just before bending a frying pan on his torso. But what if we can’t? While it won’t affect everyone (there are still college aid programs, and for some families, paying the extra cash is more of an inconvenience then anything else) the increases will still certainly be enough to make a few formerly college-bound students throw up their hands and work in a McDonald’s instead.

We can’t instantly turn back the recession, nor make new laws, but if it’s all that university students can do to protest and march, perhaps it’s best they keep up. Anyone who plans to go to college might soon be joining them.