OK kids, we’ve got good news, and we’ve got bad news. Which do you want to hear first?

The good news? OK, here it is: out of the 50 public school systems in the nation, SUNY is the eighth cheapest for in-state students to attend. Hooray!

Now, for the bad news: the state funding which the SUNY system receives has been on a steady decline for over a decade. What that means to us, as students, is rising tuition rates and more of our tuition money being spent on the bare necessities.

Don’t get us wrong, we’re not saying we should dwell on the negative, and we certainly shouldn’t be taking the affordable education that our state provides for granted. Contrary to popular belief, subsidized higher education is a privilege, not an inalienable right (well, at least until the revolution comes, and we’re all wearing red and kneeling at the feet of Marx’s statue … then we can take state education for granted).

But, as appreciative as we may be, we should never stop looking out for our own interests and the interests of future SUNY students who will most likely be facing even greater debt than many of us will graduate with.

In 1994, the SUNY system received 60.4 percent of its funding from the state, meaning only 39.6 percent had to be raised through tuition dollars. In 2005, state funding was down to 49.1 percent, and over 50 percent of the cost burden was falling onto the backs of its students — our backs.

Theoretically, this leaves us to choose between paying higher tuition or sacrificing professors, department funding and the overall quality of our education. In reality, there hasn’t been much of a choice — we’ve suffered both.

So what’s a broke Bearcat, facing tens of thousands in loans all so he could learn Brit lit from a graduate TA, to do?

We don’t want to point out the obvious and repeat what you’ve all probably heard a thousand times already this fall, but it IS election season, and the people running ARE the ones who will ultimately decide how much state funding our school will receive … so doesn’t it make sense to go out and vote?

We know you’re all busy little bees (we are too), and no one can be blamed for not having the time to research campaign platforms and figure out who would help us and who would hurt us. That’s why on Monday we’ll be providing you with special election pullouts, and groups like NYPIRG bombard you with election information in the halls of the New Union.

After just 15 minutes of reading, you too can be an informed voter and do your part to help lessen the growing financial burdens being thrown onto the students of New York.

And if you’re still not convinced and ready to run to the polls Tuesday, just think of all the things you would have been able to buy in the future if you didn’t have to give that chunk of your hard-earned paycheck to pay off your student loans. If that’s not motivation … then move to communist China; the United States probably isn’t for you.