The Spring Semester has been an interesting time of change at around the world and here at GCC.

The changing times and the struggling economy which can be seen within the Maricopa Community College District and on the GCC campus.

The semester began with the death of board member Gene Eastin and the subsequent appoint of Scott Crowley to the position as the representative of GCC on the MCCD Governing Board.

Statewide college tuition increases have become the most pressing matter to students. Arizona State University has seen a nearly 50 percent rise in tuition in the past 2 years.

Following the trends of increased cost of education and increasing expenses the MCCD Governing board proposed a $4 increase of tuition in March. Yet at the board meeting on March 24 the proposal was voted down and the decision was put off until April 27.

A bond election is proposed to raise county property taxes, as another way of acquiring more funding. The two pronged strategy is viewed by many community members as a double dip out of the incomes of already financially strapped students.

We recognize that costs increase for college and even know that the price of tuition at Arizona colleges is among the lowest in the nation. Yet we also recognize that the rising costs of college is pricing out many in our communities from attending college and studying to improve their lives and their communities.

If those that live in the Maricopa Community can no longer pay the cost to earn a degree then they will be unable to learn skills necessary to do the jobs that contribute back into the economy and the consequently many people will not become greater contributors to the local economy.

So although the raise in tuition now is relatively low now, what is to say that the next raise and the next raise after that will not take the affordability out of attending college in MCCD. The possibilty of placing a cap on the tuition cost should be considered so that tuition can not be raised in the extreme manner that ASU tuition recently has been hiked.