CSULA Students Protest for their Future

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The group of students who protested at Cal State Los Angeles today was small, but their message was big.

Tuesday was the 44th anniversary of the 1968 East LA high school blowouts when 15,000 students walked out for two weeks demanding educational change. Some Cal State Los Angeles students are continuing that legacy with their own protests.

The California State University system lost 750 million dollars in state funding in the 2011-2012 academic year, and with more cuts being threatened, students are hurting.

"We're tired of paying fees, they keep on increasing. I even have to, and not just me even other people have to take out loans for public education. That just does not make sense,"said Este Zaragosa, a student at Cal State Los Angeles.

Paul Browning, a representative for CSU, supports the students. He knows the difficulty the school faces.

"Unfortunately the CSULA only has two sources of funding, one is the general budget that's been cut and student tuition, and it is always a really difficult decision to raise student tuition,"said Browning.

The budget cuts have created overcrowding in classrooms, and made it harder for students to get into the core classes they need to graduate.

Grace Nunez's hope to graduate on time was shattered by the cuts.

"Now four years is out of the question. Now it takes at least five years, like five years, six years to get everything and graduate on time,"said Nunez.

With a 12 percent increase in tuition costs just this year, students fear that it whatever it is next year, it will be too much either way.