After hearing Gov. Charlie Crist’s plan to increase Florida college tuition annually by 15 percent for the next eight years, many college students might have a negative reaction. Most college students struggle financially, and being forced to pay more money is not an encouraging thing. But Florida in-state students currently live as royalty anyway, paying the cheapest tuition rates in the country. The plan would cap the tuition increases at the national average, and it would take seven to 10 years to even skim the surface of that level. This plan, though costly at first, will make the college degree – and the experience – more valuable. There are 15.9 million students currently enrolled in college, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and some of those are only there because someone else – a parent, grandparent, or fiancé – is forcing them.

Mike Tomassoni Art Director	John Weidner Assistant Sports Editor	Rachel Elsea Copy Editor	James Cannon II Assistant News Editor
What industry should the government bail out next?

The case for the auto industry bailout has been presented on several occasions as a way to help the economy from collapsing since too many people depend on the health of that industry. The problem with this argument is that bailing out the auto industry does not guarantee its success in the future at all. Regardless of how costly it would be to let the companies fail now, it’s preferable to what their failing business model could cost at a later time. Unfortunately, the reason government is usually not desired in running businesses is that profit maximization and public policy require different actions.

Wall Street’s investment bank giants are failing due to poor business practices; they became over-leveraged with Mortgage-Backed Securities and under-capitalized due to capricious lending practices. The Republicans’ blame the Wall Street criminals, Democrats blame the free-market and deregulation while the Federal Reserve is screaming that these banks are too large to fail. This is the current state of America’s largest financial institutions.