We are asking you to support a raise in tuition.

Now, before you get up in arms, please allow us to reason with you.

The aforementioned increase in tuition we’re advocating is only $5. This dollar amount would be tacked onto the $25 taken out of each student’s tuition every semester for the student activities fee.

Since our job is to seek the truth and report it, we must tell you that it would mean more money to use toward expenditures for all student organizations on campus.

That includes The Oakland Post, the newspaper you are now either holding in your hands or reading online.

Currently, there are eight organizations that make up the Student Activities Fund Assessment Committee. In addition to The Post, representatives of WXOU radio, Student Video Productions, the Oakland University Student Congress, Student Program Board, Student Life Lecture Board and club sports are on the committee.

The Student Activities Funding Board, which is an umbrella of sorts to all other organizations now represented on the committee, is the final member of the board.

These direct-funded organizations each receive a certain percentage of the fee every semester. A special projects fund also receives one percent of the fee. The amounts fluctuate along with student enrollment.

An increase in this fee is not unheard of.

A necessity for more money correlates with the growth of the student population and number of student organizations. According to SAFB chair Brandon Hanna, at least 50 new organizations have been formed during his tenure — which began in Fall 2010 — alone.

He said the numbers don’t match up. If every organization were to get the amount of money it’s eligible for, it would cost at least four times SAFB’s operating budget.

Some may object, arguing they’re fed up with steadily rising tuition rates. Those are largely due to a decrease in state appropriations for higher education, which have steadily fallen over the past decade and this upcoming year appears to be no different.

The 2012 state budget is projected to have $1.8 billion less in revenue. So what is the extra $5 for?

While upping tuition rates will have the effect of maintaining educational quality, a boosted SAFAC fund would have immediate positive impact.

For instance, free copies of The New York Times are available on campus five days a week. With a sale price of $2 each, students would get their $30 worth just by reading the Times every day for three weeks.

Plus, various student organizations hold events  daily, many of which feature free food and guest lecturers.

By adding $5 — the cost of a Subway sandwich — to the student activity fee, student life at Oakland University will stay on a path of continued growth.

Those not active on campus would complain that the extra fee would benefit them. Our response: You’re paying for it, use it.

Consider the student activities fee an investment in student life. Unlike the textbooks you sell back at the end of the semester for a diminished return, the student activities fee is worth every penny.