As COVID-19 makes our educational future uncertain, we as students should not have to worry about our financial situations as well. UC San Diego is making it extremely hard for students to keep up with the enormous amounts of fees that we won't be able to utilize while on campus. As most of our classes are now on Zoom, there is no way our tuition should still be over 30,000 dollars a year. Orientation fees that are over 150 dollars for a simple zoom call should not even be considered to be instated in our student accounts. The possibility of students that live in dorms being sent home during the quarter should lower the cost of room and board; but sadly, it increased.

This is not fair to the student body that makes UCSD renowned across the country. As COVID-19 ravages the state, our university should be more understanding about our financial situations. As the pandemic impacted millions of families with shortages and loss of jobs, our school has been garnering funds for their good. In 2018, UC San Diego has received over 312 million dollars in fundraising for the college from public and private donors. This is only a small amount to the already 1.6 billion dollars raised towards the school itself.

This shouldn't stand. As university students, we shouldn't be charged these fees especially if they are not going to benefit us in the future. If these fees are so-called "mandatory," than the university should be understanding to its students and make the fees smaller.

Please join us as we stand up as a collective student body and demand these fees to be reversed or discounted. As Tritons, we should be able to enjoy our time at UC San Diego, not fretting over our standing on campus.