I came home from the library earlier this week and checked my mail only to find a copy of the Penn Stater alumni magazine as well as a letter from Penn State asking for money. A couple minutes later, I received a phone call from someone from the alumni association asking me for money.

Both the letter and the phone call gave me the song and dance about how much Penn State needs my money -- not that I have much as a graduate student anyway -- and told me about the lack of state funding which is forcing Penn State to raise tuition. Yet, on the front cover of the Penn Stater magazine were the words "17 new building projects which will transform Penn State."

If Penn State is so hard up for money that it raises undergraduate tuition and my tuition as a law student, how can it afford to build 17 new buildings?

When I asked the person on the phone this question, he didn't really have an answer for me. It seems to me that instead of building 17 new buildings, we should make sure that students can afford to come to Penn State to occupy those buildings. It's like me begging my father for more money, telling him how broke I am, while driving around in a new Beamer with a juiced-up stereo system. It is absurd.

I have decided I will not give Penn State one dime in the form of a donation until it learns how to properly manage the vast amounts of money it currently has and takes steps to ensure that Penn State remains affordable for the people of Pennsylvania.