The UC system decided to officially raise tuition by an unheard of 32% on Friday. In the face of the easily-anticipated hike, THOUSANDS of students at UCLA, Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz (among others) tried to hack the decree the only way they could: protests. Sit-ins and a laughable (but kind of ominous and still respectable) "Shame on you" chant dominated the efforts.

UC Santa Cruz protests just ended today -- three days later. Rock on!

The decision doesn't touch the actual tuition per se -- it instead raises the fees around tuition. It's a grave reminder that even while public school tuition is state-regulated, administrators can slap on fees that make the colleges as expensive as private schools.

It'll cost about $2,500 more to attend a California public school. Ouch. Like, major ouch.

[awesome image above stolen from the NYT]