On Nov. 20, while protesters remained barricaded in rooms at the Wheeler Building, UC Berkeley, students from Oakland told OaklandLocal how the substantial tuition and fee increases announced this week will likely affect them.

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During the protest, fire alarms were pulled at several buildings across the UCB campus, forcing the evacuation of students, faculty, and staff from classrooms. Several of these students voiced disapproval of both the tuition/fee increases and the protest.

One senior, a biology major who preferred not to be identified, and whose class at the Dwinnelle Hall had just been ended by a fire alarm, said: "The protests mainly affect the students, not the people making decisions about tuition. This place is supposed to be about education, so why kick us out of class?"

Another senior, who studies bioengineering and also preferred not to be identified, noted: "UC Berkeley is a very challenging, competitive school. It's hard enough for people just to be here in the first place, just to get in and keep up with the schoolwork here. It's not reasonable to expect students to work at jobs much on top of that, just to make enough money to stay in school and get by. Now it's going to be even harder. A lot of students won't be able to both work and stay in school. At least, not in this school."

The University of California Regents contend that the tuition and fee increases will have little impact on lower-income students because of increased financial aid, including raising the income ceiling to $70,000 for access to the UC Blue and Gold program.

According to the Regents,  The increased fees are expected to generate $505 million. Of that amount, $175 million would be set aside for financial aid."

Katrina, a UCB senior and longtime Oakland resident, said "We'd like to see details on how exactly how all that extra financial aid is supposed to get doled out. A lot of people are very confused about the process, and those tuition hikes are supposed to start in January. There could be some pretty big holes in that safety net, and the poorest students still will probably get hit the hardest."