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# Students tired of taking a hike
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/students-tired-of-taking-a-hike/
- Published: 2005-04-28T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T06:48:50.000Z
- Author: Ryan Hyatt
- Tags: Education, Main St, #archive-import

*Students take to streets in protest of tuition hikes*

MAIN STREET — Hundreds of college students decked out in graduation caps and gowns they fear they may never get to wear marched to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Santa Monica restaurant on Wednesday to protest tuition hikes.

More than 300 California State University college students and faculty members marched from the Victorian House on Main Street to Schatzi’s, a restaurant owned by Schwarzenegger, to protest three years of budget cuts, rising tuition costs and slashed course offerings for the California State University school system. Students from Cal Poly, Long Beach, Bakersfield and Northridge all participated in the protest.

Just a few hours earlier, and a few blocks away, local school advocates headed for the steps of the State Capitol building in Sacramento to protest Schwarzenegger’s cuts to public education. (See related story.) Members of the California Faculty Association, the teachers union which helped organize the event, said Schwarzenegger intends to slightly increase the CSU budget next year, but another $181 million is needed to begin repairing damage caused by failed state support since Schwarz-enegger took office.

“The governor is committed to not raising taxes — except on our students,” said Lillian Taiz, CFA vice president for Cal State Los Angeles, who explained that Schwarzenegger has overseen tuition increases for the last three years. “The governor needs to realize we are graduating the state’s future police officers, firefighters and nurses, and we can’t do that without state support.”

California State University students said there has been a 110-percent increase in tuition for graduate students and 90-percent hike for undergraduate students during the Schwarzenegger administration. They contend that for every 10-percent increase in tuition, it prevents 2 percent of the poorest college students from being able to afford higher education. Another 8-percent hike in tuition fees is expected next year.

“We’re creating a generation of uneducated people who don’t understand the government, how to vote or how to think critically,” said Amir Mertaban, a third-year international marketing major at Cal Poly. “We’re creating zombies, which I think is what the governor must want.”

The governor’s office was unavailable for comment.

Todd Lininger, a third-year Cal Poly geography student, said he has been able to pay for his college education through the G.I. Bill, having served four years in the Marines.

“I have $50,000, and I’m trying to stretch it as far it can go,” said Lininger, who hopes to attend a graduate school in California. “The priorities in this country are so wrong... all of this money going to fight the war in Iraq... and that’s coming from a Marine.

“We need to be able to provide more affordable education, not less.”

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/042805-01_01.jpg)

to the Daily Press College students march on Main Street Wednesday to protest Gov. (Photo: Ryan Hyatt/Special)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 28, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/042805.pdf?ref=smdp.com)