UC Davis students angered to death
President Obama promised to make college affordable. Governor Schwarzenegger promised to make California the great economic state that it once was.
Trouble is afoot in sunny Cal. Reminiscent of the sit-ins from the 60’s and 70’s UC Davis students decided to protest in a most unusual way.
Students from UC Davis posed a mock funeral, faux-funeral as a representation of the exorbitant fees charged to attend UC Davis. Fees high enough to kill them and make them slaves to debt.
We will see if anyone from Capitol Hill or the Capitol of California is listening.
This article was published by MSNBC.
Fake Funeral Questions College Affordability University Of California Students Pay More Than Texas, SUNY
DAVIS, Calif. - 3-2-09 It'll never rival the pubs, but with another tuition hike looming next fall, the financial aid office at the University of California, Davis is a popular student stop.
Almost two-thirds of UC Davis students receive some form of assistance. But a growing number of university students feel the promise of affordable education is dying, so they staged a mock funeral Monday to dramatize their view.
"Accessibility is definitely in danger in the UC. We've had tuition and fees go up, while aid is being cut," UCLA student Brandon Harrison said.
A year's tuition at the University of California is about $9,500, about $1,000 more than the University of Texas and roughly double the tuition at the State University of New York.
The University of California disputes the argument that students are being shut out of access to higher education, pointing in part to an ongoing financial aid program aimed primarily at students from low-income families.
"What we're saying is, if you make $60,000 or less and you're in your first four years of college, you will be covered for your fees," interim financial aid direct Katy Maloney said.
But that leaves out a large group -- middle-income students, who take out student loans. And that's where the real burden lies: The students garner heavy debt to be paid off years into the future.
In response to these concerns, a Democratic lawmaker from Los Angeles authored a new bill that would tax millionaires in California to provide more funding for state universities. That measure would require a two-thirds vote to pass in the California Legislature.
