On Wednesday, the Arizona Students’ Association, a student advocacy group for Arizona’s public universities, will protest the state Legislature’s proposed budget cuts at the Arizona state capitol building in Phoenix.

The Legislature’s plan would slash 40 percent of the state-provided funding for Arizona’s public universities. ASU officials and students have decried this proposal. President Michael Crow even said Arizona’s future looks more like a Third World country that of any neighboring states.

A 40 percent cut should concern everybody. Arizona’s not likely to become the next Somalia, but his point was that the quality of our education could plummet.

But where was this concern in November? ASA members didn’t seem too worried about the budget when they gave their tuition proposal a few months ago.

In case I’m the only one who remembers, Crow submitted a very reasonable 5 percent increase for all returning undergraduates. But ASA tried to get a 3 percent increase, as well as student oversight on part of the budget.

Crow didn’t have to give 5 percent. He could have put forth any tuition increase proposal he damn well pleased. UA President Robert Shelton did just that, and initially asked the Board of Regents to give UA’s returning undergrads a 9.5 percent increase.

Should ASU thank Crow for not screwing over the student body? No. But the ASA needs to learn that they can’t always get what they want. Almost everyone in America is just trying to keep the lights on at this point. Including the state of Arizona.

If the ASA stood by Crow’s proposal last fall, then at least they could go to the capitol and say, “We are willing to shoulder some of this.”

But they didn’t. So now it looks like the students of ASU want everyone else to pay for their education. If the students (or at least their representatives) weren’t willing to raise tuition for the New American University, maybe ASU should have stayed the old course.

ASU is not the only green bean on the state Legislature’s plate. They have to deal with K-12 education, a new governor and an immigration problem with no happy endings.

More tuition hikes will not save the University. Additional fees aren’t going to bring back laid-off employees and faculty.

It’s not that ASU students shouldn’t be thankful for the ASA. They provide a student voice in tuition-increase proposals and other affairs regarding Arizona’s public universities.

But tuition is payment for a service. It pays for everything from air conditioning to new buildings. If ASU gets three copies of “Catch-22” and a couple new ceiling fans, I expect tuition to increase accordingly.

Our education is inevitably going to be worth less. The Legislature’s going to cut the budget, regardless of what Crow and the ASA do. The ASA, ASU and all its students should re-evaluate what they want from this University, and what it’s worth to them.

Reach Chris at cogino@asu.edu.