I've been reading about the school tuition hike protests going on across america (huffingtonpost.com) and this is something I've felt passionate about.....
and I was one of the lucky ones, since I was out of school before the shrub came into office, but what happened to me was I applied and was accepted to a private university... fantastic.... I filled out all my financial aid forms and got an award letter... great....
according to said letter, despite the school tuition being HORRIBLY out of reach for my mom and me, I would get aid and grants and take out a small student loan and I would have to pay zero.... out of pocket anyway....
so I went.... I couldn't have afforded it otherwise.... plus, why go to the public college when the private one is not much more out of pocket for me personally.
sophomore year - same deal... small loan, everything else is kosher... awesome....
then came year 3 - oops - turns out, tuition's up, my loan tripled.... senior year - loan quadrupled (from the original amount I mean)

my sister D is at the same school now.... and the same situation - years 1&2 - everything's covered.... medium sized loans for her though, not my piddly ones, but still, no severe out of pocket other than books, parking, etc..... tuition's up over 10,000 *a year* from when I went there 8 years ago... junior year for D? not only were her loans huge, my mom had to pay 4,000 because the loans top off after a certain amount and tuition's up.... this last year? she's taking a huge courseload just to ensure she finishes because my mom had to pay over 7000... and when you're a senior, you can't exactly transfer so you're pretty much stuck... you've already taken all the religion classes that count for nothing elsewhere and you're already on a plan - transferring would mean making up classes and staying longer, so you suck it up and just deal with it...

my sister D was in England for a semester - people she met there - when she told them about her tuition amount, they were all, "Where the hell do you go to school?? Harvard???" because it's unreal that tuition costs $35,000 per year...

anyway - my idea? why the hell don't they lock-in tuition? when you get your first award letter as an entering freshman, THAT should be the amount you owe/borrow/pay for the next 4 years... barring any massive changes to your income/situation, you should know what the cost will be for the next 4 years.... there should be no surprises when you're 3 years into your program.... it really sucks....
anyways, good luck to all the protesting kids....