1999 UNAM strike cents in the 1993 currency revaluation); the amount is specified in the University bylaws, and changing it requires action by the University Council (a legislative body that comprises representatives of the faculty and students, and all directors of schools, faculties, and institutes). By 1999, inflation and the exchange rate meant that tuition amounted to about 0.02 US dollars. The quality of education of the UNAM, alma mater of several Latin American presidents had decayed since its glory days. At the time, UNAM had a budget of about one thousand million dollars, of which 90% was provided by the federal government.
1999 UNAM strike rector and appointment of a new one. Along the way, bloody conflicts resulted in serious injuries and even fatalities on the unlawfully occupied campus. Eventual action by the recently created federal police finally ended the occupation during February 2000. The third article of the Constitution of Mexico states that all education imparted by the state is free. Whether this includes decentralized, autonomous institutions of higher education like the UNAM is a matter of (often heated) debate. Tuition at the UNAM is not free, and it had last been raised in 1948 to 200 pesos per academic year (tuition became 20