Nationally, the unemployment rate has hit 7.6 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ January report, and key financial institutions are bleeding money.

Statewide, the budget deficit reached more than $1 billion this year and is expected to grow more in the next fiscal year. The foreclosure rate is also troubling, as Arizona has the third highest rate in the nation.

Locally, the Valley’s largest cities are reeling — Phoenix is facing a $270 million shortfall and Tempe is strapped for $34.5 million. Other cities like Mesa and Chandler aren’t doing so great either.

But while all of these problems torment the general population on a daily basis, the majority of ASU students have pushed through the semester with regularity. Classes have not been canceled or wiped out entirely, the buildings remain lit and air conditioned, a significant amount of faculty have not lost their jobs, no extra money has been extracted from student pockets and the goofy little things college is all about (term papers, debauchery, in-class Sudoku) are no less a part of the daily routine. Around campus, it is mostly business as usual.

By this token, University administrators have done a remarkable job sheltering students from the larger financial crisis occurring all around them. There has been no drastic uptick in people dropping out of the school, and the academic operations of ASU have been touched as little as possible.

All of this, of course, has happened despite an $88 million reduction in state funding dealt to ASU in the past year.

Overall, students ought to be mighty happy with the way we have been treated in the midst of such an unprecedented predicament. Though it seems like it should be a given, it is far from guaranteed that a university would place its students’ success above its bottom line.

Up until now, Sun Devil students have found themselves in a fortunate position.

But, as Americans have learned in some way or another in recent months, nobody can escape the breadth of the widespread economic woes. In a Monday meeting with The State Press editorial board, ASU President Michael Crow alluded to the likelihood that the price to attend ASU could soon be hiked for students.

In conversation about the financial future of the University, the president suggested a few things that would make any student cringe: Some programs are prone to additional fees, a health fee is impending, and a temporary surcharge could wind up on the tuition bill as a way of maintaining ASU’s quality in the face of lost funds.

Obviously, this is a blow, and it is bound to hurt the student body. It is hard to judge how much devastation it will cause until we know the exact numbers proposed.

However, Crow said the changes in cost of attendance would ideally be temporary, reiterating his commitment to accessibility and affordability. Though, if the economy doesn’t recover, his ideal could turn into an ordeal.

Crow’s outlook seems positive; we sure hope he wasn’t just blowing smoke in our faces.