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U it stop? "The only way for me to cover the balance of my tuition is from a loan. I work two jobs on campus to cover my rent and food. I do get by, for now," Salu said. "I fear that my financial support might not be able to cover my tuition, running my loan bal­ ance up to the point where I would just have to Casi Massingill Dan Martin Tuition went up 40 percent at Portland State during the 1991-1992 school year as compared with one year earlier, because of Ballot Measure 5, and nnore increases are in sight. Tuition hikes were a big issue this year and a topic for discus­ sion across campus. Although Niko Grimanis was born in Athens, Greece, he is a transfer student from Germany where students are not charged tuition to go to college as long as they make sufficient headway towards a degree. Grimanis is afraid that if tuition keeps going up he will not be able to afford to continue his education at PSD. "I'll have to break my studies just in order to work. And, I still have to say, with the financial aid and the kind of job I have, I can still get by. I'm a waiter, and I get some tips, but there are so many people that work minimum wage jobs. It's very hard for them to make it and everyone wants j to really give up. Nobody really has the incentive I anymore to continue because we make it so hard I for everybody," Grimanis said. I Grimanis is active in student politics. He at- 1 tended university meetings where the administra- > tion asked students and faculty what they could cut from PSU. In the spring he was elected to a position on the student council. "I think the problem also is that the adminis­ tration does not work closer with the students and the students don't work closer with the ad­ ministration; there's always a big wall in between and lots of ice," Grimanis said. Raising the tuition even more will have the likely effect of keeping less financially endowed students from getting a college education. "Education is the most important part; it's a right not a privilege and that's how it should be. just because they're poor doesn't mean that they're stupid and they can't get educated. And, just because the other people have money doesn't mean they're smart and they can learn. And this is what we're doing by saying 'Hey, you have to pay for it.' So, if you don't have money you're stupid? That's the question," Grimanis said. Because of the increases in tuition. Pell Grants do not cover tuition costs. Darrell Salu, born in Tafuna, American Samoa, is a junior majoring in Administration of Justice. withdraw from school," Salu said. Kolini Fusitua, born in Nukunuku, Kingdom of Tonga, is a PSU graduate student in sociology. He has similar fears of what tuition increases will do to the availability of university educations in the future. "The increase will effect lots of minorities like myself who don't have sufficient financial sup­ port to go to college," Fusitua said. "I've had to work more hours which takes up study time. The tuition hike has forced me to spend more time working and less time available to study," Fusitua said. When are the increases going to stop? This is the question students and their parents are ask­ ing. Dean Dawkins, a junior in administration of justice and the 1992-93 ASPSU president has his own ideas. "Basically, we need tax reform because what the legislature will do is put a tax reform measure on the ballot. It'll get voted down, as all new tax­ es do. Then, the legislature will say, 'sorry folks, we tried.' Our response will be that's not good enough, and we want tax reform now. And, in November, we will vote you out of office," Dawkins said. —Michele Vowell 51