My fellow students, would you like some cheese with your whine?

It’s not difficult to find problems at the University — between the budget cuts, the economy and the million things that are going wrong as a result, there is a lot to complain about. The difficulty is finding a student who is going to quit complaining and start doing.

So my advice is simple: stop whining, start doing something and be open to paying more for service improvements.

For starters, when various budget items are up for a vote, particularly fee increases, take ten minutes out of your day (which is no doubt spent on Facebook or some other confangled thing on the Interwebs), go to the voting Web site (vote.ncsu.edu) and VOTE.

Turnout for budget votes are abysmal, usually peaking around 1 percent. One freaking lousy percent of a student population of 32,000 students — ONE PERCENT.

There’s a reason the people who make budget decisions don’t listen to students, students don’t actually say anything to them. These budget issues cover things that students care about: funding for the Wolfline, Carmichael Complex, Campus Recreation, the Student Health Center, Student Government and the student centers on campus.

In short, the budget can affect how crowded the buses are and how late they run. The budget can keep the lights and gym equipment running into the wee hours of the night for everyone who is too busy to make an effort to stay in shape during the day. Medical care costs money, and if it ain’t funded, the Student Health Center ain’t going to be open as long — the lines will be longer.

And since Student Government funds stuff like Homecoming, the Red Terror bus that takes you to football games and Campout for tickets to the basketball game against Carolina, you kind of want to fund it (assuming you want those things).

Don’t think administrators won’t be willing to listen or help you get the ball rolling on changes that need to be made. These people have jobs, and asking them to handle our complaints and come up with solutions may go beyond their capacities.

If these problems really bother you, volunteer to put in a few hours a week to come up with a long-term solution for the people who can implement change.

But again, change is not cheap — you must be willing to pay a bit more if you expect the gym to be open later, the buses to run more frequently, the lines at the health center to be shorter and Student Government events to be better. Money can’t buy you love or the idea for a great solution to a problem, but for the latter, it can certainly help pay for the stuff you need.

The bottom line is that it’s the same for any service that we take for granted around here: if you want to get rid of the rats, you better be willing to pay the piper.