Last week protests against the reduction of funds for higher education and hikes in tuition swept across several American universities. Most of the rallies were peaceful, but in a couple of locations the students faced the police force.

The nation instantly remembered the mass student movement of 1968. This time, however, the reason for a couple of thousands students to riot was all about economics. In many cases, professors joined the rallies, like the 200 who demonstrated against pay cuts at the University of Illinois.

The young people's frustrations are understandable. Owing to the economic crisis, shrinking revenues in many states are affecting higher education, which is funded with public money. Subsidies for universities have been cut, provoking cuts in teachers' salaries and reduction of class choices. Meanwhile, students are asked to pay more and more in tuition at state universities where costs are rising faster than inflation. Some universities raised their tuition by more than 10 percent in one year.

The situation in which one receives a worse quality of service (education in this instance) for a much higher price cannot be satisfying to anybody.

The private colleges are not picture perfect either. They used to draw the best students with lucrative scholarship packages, but now their tuition is going up at a fast pace. The crisis has also exerted tremendous pressure on endowments of the best private universities in the country.

Funds for financial aid are disappearing; as a result, the costs of studying are growing burden to students and their parents, who are forced to take out loans that will take years to pay off.

Lately, parents are referred to as the sandwich generation, squeezed between the need to finance their kids' education and taking care of their own parents.

The wave of rallies that recently swept across the American universities certainly will not be the last we see, given the increasing importance of getting a higher education. Only a university diploma can open the gate to securing a decent job and a decent start in life. If the economic circumstances force young people to quit college, the riots will rev up.

Education, including higher education, should be the last place to try to make a savings. As well, we should be offering more tax credits to students to support their getting a college diploma.