Last week the UC Regents approved a plan which would ensure that any student whose household income was $60,000 or less would have one less thing to worry about when thinking about attending a UC. I would have loved one less thing to worry about when considering and sending out my applications.

The Blue & Gold Opportunity Plan introduced at the February regents meeting held at the San Francisco campus targets the neediest of students, protecting them from the rising costs of a UC education and the continued disinvestment from the state.

The policy outlined in the plan will ensure that students from working class families will have, at a minimum, all of their fees covered with scholarship and grant aid monies. Although students will still face higher costs of living compared to other students in the nation, this policy will reduce the impact of the work-loan burden for more than 1,000 students.

This plan comes at time when students and working families are facing grave challenges to college affordability. Gov. Schwarzenegger is proposing fee increases that would bring the total cost of a UC education, including books and housing, to more than $26,100 a year for undergraduates. The governor also has plans to erode the Cal Grant program which serves as part of the safety net that keeps low and middle-income students in school. These deep cuts to the university will hurt student services and result in cuts to enrollment.

In an economically uncertain time when people are getting laid off left and right, an individual's financial considerations go beyond their total cost of education. When students take on private loans and max out their work study, their entire family budget is affected. Low and middle-income families have already begun to eat into the little savings that they have and an increase in fees only serves to discourage students from attending the nation's top public universities.

Additionally, for those of us in school, it only serves to undermine the university's commitment to public service; while a salary in the non-profit sector under $50,000 is noble, for many students it is not a realistic option after graduation.

The Blue & Gold Opportunity Plan is only a start to redrawing the grave future that is being painted for California higher education. The larger issue is that the state refuses to recognize the importance of investing in higher education, forcing students and working families to pick up the tab while the quality of the university continues to deteriorate. Since 2001, the state has decreased their contribution per student by over a third, while student fees have more than doubled to compensate. The governor's proposed cuts still make all present and future UC students vulnerable.

UC students want to see a long-term policy to prevent skyrocketing student fees and allow families to plan ahead. In addition, we need a reinvestment of state revenue into higher education. The support of UC President Yudof and the UC Regents on these critical, long-term issues will be essential to building the university's access and affordability; the Blue and Gold Plan, while not a solution to the budget crisis, brings us one step closer to ensuring the affordability of a quality UC education.