Higher Education Sticker Shock in Illinois

The AP reports on higher education costs in Illinois:

University of Illinois trustees voted Thursday to raise tuition and fees on the university's three campuses by an average of 11.6 percent, taking the cost of tuition, fees and housing at the Champaign-Urbana campus to about $9,450 a semester. Over the past decade the state's flagship university system has raised the cost of an education by more than 250 percent -- five times the rate at which Americans' incomes grew during that period, and eight times the rate of inflation.

Are the oppression studies department really that necessary?