Thousands of college students from across California marched through the streets of Sacramento to the Capitol building in protest of budget cuts and fee hikes to higher education on March 5.

Many schools’ student governments endorsed the rally, an annual lobbying maneuver called March in March, and chartered buses to drive students to Sacramento. Students from schools as far away as Pasadena attended the march and rally.

SRJC’s Associated Students chartered two buses to take more than 60 students to Sacramento, providing free breakfast and lunch. All students and faculty who attended made it back safely to Sonoma County, said Jessica Jones, president of SRJC’s Associated Students.

Students and supporters marched 12 blocks from Southside Park to the Capitol building, walking in the streets closed off from traffic by the CHP.

Students from community colleges, California State Universities (CSU) and University of California (UC) campuses turned out for the rally to protest the financial woes of their schools and pocket books.

“Perhaps the most important thing about the march, [is] it gives us new energy to see we are not the only ones who care about higher education,” Jones said. “Instead, we stand in solidarity with thousands [of students] from all across the state.”

Schools across the state are dealing with cuts differently, but all cuts are detrimental to students.

SRJC has cut hundreds of sections in the last two years, severely limiting the number of students who can attend. Another 10 percent cut is expected for the Fall 2012 semester, and summer school sections have already shrunk. Students services have also been cut back.

Next door to SRJC at Sonoma State University (SSU) fees are increasing and the administration is cutting classes. Libby Cunningham, a freshman at the rally, said she couldn’t get into a required math class at the beginning of the semester because there was no room.

Additionally, Cunningham said, some mandatory courses are only offered to freshmen, so after the first year students have to take those classes at community colleges.

“Our four-year school is now a five-year school,” Cunningham said.

UC Santa Cruz’s student body sent four charter buses. Tuition there costs $9,000 for 10 weeks of classes, UCSC neuroscience major Keri Kekkonen said. Her friend paid $45,000 for out-of-state tuition and couldn’t afford books, so she stole them.

Alysa Cisneros, a political science major, said at De Anza College in Cupertino the faculty work 10 unpaid minutes for every hour in the classroom.

Angus Teter, an environmental science major at De Anza, said the school has cut its counselors down so much there is only one transfer counselor for 20,000 students.

Most students didn’t know exactly what should be done to fix the budget, but showed up to make their problems known to legislators.

“It’s not right for people with money to go to school and for those without money not to be able to attend,” said Letty Villareal, a nursing student from Antelope Valley College.

“The rally is a great experience to stand up for what we really need,” said Samantha Medeiros, a sociology freshman at SSU who is knowingly walking into post-graduate debt because she is the first person in her family to go to college.

Not everyone was as enthusiastic about the rally. Joshua ‘Schwa’ Pinaula was glad he could go, but was unimpressed with the overall effect. “We went to Sacramento to listen to people talk about how messed up things are, which most of us knew,” he said. “I want my state representatives to come out and explain why we’re at the place we are now, and how that’s going to change.”

Police patrolled the march and rally constantly, demanding protestors remove the sticks from their signs. One officer said the stick-ban is part of the California Code of Regulation in Title 13, and has to do with the state being protective of the vegetation at the Capitol building. Ten seconds later he kicked a shrub jumping onto the cement shelf around the flower garden, then took two steps into it to tell a protestor to get out of the vegetation.

Robert Ethington, director of Student Affairs and New Student Programs, agreed the rally was a good experience for students. “I thought our students did a great job representing the college, and I think it was a fantastic learning experience for all of them,” he said.

Despite the problem free trip, Ethington and Jones were unhappy with the Occupy action in the Capitol building that happened in the evening after the rally was over.

Hundreds of students crowded into the building after the speakers at the rally and many decided to occupy the building after it had closed with a list of demands including tax the rich, educate prisoners and funding for free textbooks, the Associated Press reported. More than an hour after police asked protestors to leave, 68 were arrested around 7:30 p.m., the AP reported.

“I am disappointed that the media chose to highlight the occupy arrests more than the message, the inspiring speeches given by the students and the march itself,” Jones said.

Holly Cordeiro, a political science major at San Francisco City College, supported the occupation and handed out handbills calling for it during the rally. “I think the other groups that showed up in the March in March were there because they are sharing the same struggles as the students.”

“I think [occupiers] going in and having a presence in front of legislators while they are lobbied will make a big difference,” Cordeiro said.