So by now I'm sure all of you have heard about the Tuition increase that this economic crisis has wrought us. Starting next semester our tuition per-semester will go up by $545, or $1090 a year.News of this came down last week, and people started to flip out. Even our very own confessions board was all a flutter about it. People are understandably not happy. The good news is that this week there will be stuff that you can do about it.
First off, today from 11-3 in IRC(EDIT: Probably actually out in the Quad now, not IRC), Democracy Matters will have a table set up where you can phone your congressmen and tell them just exactly how uncool this whole tuition hike is.
If calling your congressmen isn't enough for you, Aliex Aiello is leading a rally tomorrow morning at 9:20 in the Quad to have everyone meet up and march to the Library to send faxes to all of the state legislators and Governor Patterson urging them to not slash the SUNY budget.
Don't just sit idly by and let them butcher our budget while asking for more money! Get up and make sure your voice is heard!
Everyone needs to come out for the rally tomorrow...it's at 9:20 because the legislation will begin at 10 am, when everyone will go to the library and send a fax from a computer to Albany. It's worth getting up for. If everyone says they can't change anything, nothing will change. We need people to be positive and just come out and be a part of the fax bltiz!
ReplyDeleteHey Greyscale,
ReplyDeleteThere is no decision on tuition going up by ANYONE yet. The $545 per semester suggestion was one from a collaboration of 30 college presidents. Yes, it was mentioned at the Board of Trustees Committee on Finance and Administration, but it was not agreed upon or voted on by the full Board. The governor is suggestion a slightly less ridiculous number, $300 up for future semesters. The problem with THAT is the SUNY colleges would only see 10% of that money next semester and 20% after that... the SUNY Student Assembly and a few of the SUNY administrators have the right idea with "rational tuition," where it goes up by a smaller amount (say, $80 or so) every year instead of us students getting NAILED with a 25% bump and ending up royally fucked over. And it's indexed against some fancy economic forecast thing that I don't understand, so if the economy really blows ass then tuition doesn't go up as much.
Fact check next time my friend - the legislature slashing the SUNY budget tomorrow is GOING to happen. Tuition increase? Probably not going to happen tomorrow. Before next semester? I'd bet my loans on it, I guess. But tomorrow? Highly doubt it. The whole legislature has to agree on an issue, and this is politics in New York. NOTHING gets done on the first day.