The most dramatic fee adjustment could come after 2005, because the increase will be based on the San Francisco Bay Area Consumer Price Index. That's an undefined fee increase. Only time can tell what it may be. Last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the national consumer price index for January. It presented a distressing jump of 0.6 percent from December, twice as much as economists had expected.
Many students have problems keeping up with local inflation already.
According to an article published by the San Francisco Chronicle, inflation in the Bay Area has been higher than the national average for about four years. Since about 1997 the Bay Area's inflation rate has been exceeding the nation's rate because of soaring housing costs - a 30 percent increase in 2000 alone for renting or buying a home. When students have these expenses to worry about, an additional expense for campus recreation is hard to justify. The worst of it is that average hourly earnings, increasing by only 0.4 percent between November and December, don't increase in line with the consumer price index. They may find the activity fees too high and may become discouraged.