Three weeks ago today we began the fall portion of the 2010-2011 school year. Quick three weeks, huh?

For those returning to the University, it is somewhat different this year. While the student part of the University family has grown each year for at least the past five years, it seems that maybe the Capstone grew a bit more this year than it did in the years before.

It is obvious to everyone who uses our University’s parking and transportation

systems that we are at capacity in that department. We now see a growing distaste across campus with Bama Dining. Some students have taken legal action over the Dining Dollars mandate, and others are showing their displeasure with meal plans and what they buy. Classes are growing larger, taking away from the small, personal feel some students hoped to have.

The UA student body came back to these problems Aug. 18 after dropping a record amount on tuition. Looking at the budget forecast for our state, those costs will continue to grow along with enrollment. As already ailing tax revenues were deeply affected by the oil spill, we could see the largest tuition hike yet next year.

With all of this being said, I really don’t see the displeasure outside of reading Facebook statuses and overhearing conversations. Do we really care about these problems after all? Looking around campus, it doesn’t seem to be high on anyone’s priority list.

The lack of student-based solutions to the issues we face is alarming. We have to wake up and become active. We really have no other choice.

Sure, we don’t personally make the big decisions that make all services on campus what they are. But where are our ideas to make this campus a greater one?

After all, being students here, we can give the best advice on how to make campus run smoothly.

We all know the utopian campus we have conjured in our minds, which may have developed during our recruitment to the University, does not exist at this time. This doesn’t mean we still shouldn’t try to make this the best college in the country.

This fine institution needs your help. Let’s reevaluate our attitude about our school. If we take the view that we are so blessed and fortunate to even be here at this great University, our mindset will change to one that is positive and constructive.

Sure, students are inconvenienced by the longer bus routes and parking issues in our daily commutes around campus. We might not want to have three hundred dollars locked to a few places to eat. But let’s look at the resources in way that we can enhance them, instead of denigrating them.

Let’s start meeting and having conversations about what needs to be improved. Put up flyers and host conversations about what we need to do. Talk about transportation and dining and hear your fellow student’s ideas. Write your state officials about budgeting in a way that at least takes away some of the volatility of higher education costs.

Ask anyone who has witnessed the residential move-in process evolve over the past four years. Housing has orchestrated a complete turnaround from the chaotic debacle my classmates saw in 2007, to an organized, effective system that got people in their new rooms 10 minutes after they arrived this year.

If you feel the need to protest, do just that. If you have to be critical of a program if you believe it will make it more functional, then be critical. Just make sure you remember to offer a solution. One of last week’s columns on this very page was very critical of a certain program. However, it offered an alternative.

As parents, teachers and countless others have told us over and over again, we are only going to get out what we put into something. Making our voices heard can only be beneficial for us. So let’s wake up out of this non-active trance and help out where it is most needed.

John Anselmo is a senior majoring in economics.