At an early age, the importance of education is preached to many, along with the idea that the pursuit of a degree after high school leads to success. One constraint of that quest is money. Across the country the cost of attending public universities has been on the rise.

In April, The University of New Mexico Board of Regents approved an increase of 7.9 percent in tuition and fees. Students have been struggling to deal with the added expense, many having to take out more loans to cover the additional cost.

"It's already difficult enough to make the payments to afford school, so the more they raise it, the harder it gets," said Inka Markowski, 20, a senior attending UNM.

Public institutions are primarily funded through money granted by the state, and with the rough economic times, budgets have been cut. Susan McKinsey, a spokeswoman for UNM, estimates $25 million has been taken away from main-campus funding in the last two years with a total of four budget cuts.

"As with anything, the regents did everything they could to keep tuition as reasonable as possible," McKinsey said.

Regardless of this, the reaction of the student body to the hike was not welcoming.

"There have been some protests," Markowski said, adding that she was involved in one. "I think everybody was really upset to hear they were going to be paying more money instead of less."

According to McKinsey, "The biggest thing for all institutions in New Mexico was we were caught with a 5 percent tuition credit, which means everyone needs to raise it that much just to break even." McKinsey describes it as "a tuition tax on students."

Scholarships and financial aid are not enough to help some UNM students pay the extra fees, but McKinsey stresses, "That's something that the university works on every single day, to keep (the cost) viable."

But for some, the hike is barely feasible. "It seems ridiculous to be asking for more money from the students. Everybody's already pretty tight with cash," Markowski said. "Education should really be much more affordable, if not free."

Lowering attendance costs or putting money toward scholarships to assist students with the increase does not seem likely, especially when the state is still slashing funds.

"We're going through another series of budget cuts now in the neighborhood of about 3.2 percent for main campus, which probably equates to $5.9 million," McKinsey said.

President David Schmidly, university deans, senior administrators, faculty representatives and branch directors are in the midst of a series of meetings to discuss methods to deal with the cuts and those expected in the near future. They aim to agree on a plan by the end of the fall semester.

UNM is not the only New Mexico school with financial setbacks. New Mexico State University resorted to an 8 percent rise in tuition and fees for residents and a 10.1 percent increase for nonresidents.

The cost per credit hour jumped from
$34 to $36 for the summer semester at Santa Fe Community College, which has suffered cutbacks as well.

"We had to do a lot of cost-saving reduction," said Ron Liss, vice president of academic and student affairs. "We've tightened our belts."

These cost-saving techniques include delaying repairs and a hiring freeze, resulting in less support staff.

SFCC has also witnessed a nearly 13 percent rise in enrollment. Liss explained that, "Community college traditionally gets a rise when the economy is not well. ... Our goal is to be an affordable, accessible institution."

Unlike UNM, SFCC has "significantly increased financial aid in the last two years," Liss said.

Liss also attributes the rise in enrollment to "new programs added based on research conducted to find out what people are interested in."

Still, the enrollment and tuition increases do not negate the lack of state financing, as it takes two years before the state boosts funding to support a jump in enrollment.

Community colleges generally offer two-year degrees. Gathering credits at SFCC can be a money saver for those who choose to get their associate degree before transferring to a larger school for their bachelor's.

"We want to make sure people finish two years with us prepared and to make sure each penny spent by a student is a penny well spent," Liss said.

New Mexico schools are not the only victims of tuition hikes. Students at public universities and colleges across the United States have been subject to rising rates, many more severe than those of UNM, NMSU and SFCC.

According to CNN.com, University of California schools implemented a 32 percent increase. Students at the University of Colorado at Boulder will pay an additional 9.3 percent, according to The Denver Post. The University of Oklahoma raised tuition and fees by 4.5 percent, all in effect for the 2010-2011 school year, according to The Norman Transcript.

Public or private, the price of obtaining any degree is steep. The investment usually comes with the expectation of a high-quality education, which is not always the case, according to Oklahoma student Josephine Stocks, 23.

"Lots of professors seem highly underqualified," Stocks said.

For graduating high school students planning on enrolling at public institutions, the path is shrouded with uncertainty. Budget cuts continue and the potential of more hikes makes it impossible to know what the actual cost of an education will be.

Emma Hamming-Green is a senior at The Academy for Technology and the Classics. Contact her at happycamper156@hotmail.com.