Sorry, that was cruel. I hope I didn’t get anyone’s hopes up. Yes, we’re in the middle of an economic crisis and unemployment is almost at %10. So, in order to give high school students an incentive to work at McDonald’s or White Castle, colleges are increasing their tuition rates. Yahoo! reports:

“Average tuition at four-year public colleges rose 6.5 percent, or $429, to $7,020 this fall, according to the College Board’s annual “Trends in College Pricing” report, released Tuesday. At private colleges, the average list price for a year of coursework rose 4.4 percent to $26,273.”

A 4.4-6.5 percent increase is not so bad, though, is it? If they raise the tuition now, they won’t raise it again for a while, right? Wrong! How about next year’s proposed 30-F*!@ing percent tuition increase at California schools:

“Worst hit is California, whose giant public university and community college systems educate about one in six American college students. Facing unprecedented state funding cuts, public colleges have boosted fees, raised class sizes, furloughed faculty and turned away students. On top of the current year’s 9-percent fee increase, the University of California system is considering increases of more than 30 percent by next year.”

Stay classy, America.