Knowledge May Come at a Higher Price...

Yesterday, LaGuardia Community College students came together, in front of the E-Building, in a rally to declare their opposition towards tuition hikes. Although I did not personally attend the rally, I did fill out a post card a week ago that served as a petition against these increases at CUNY schools. With the possibility of $300 increases in two year schools and $600 in senior colleges, students and staff have made efforts to raise awareness of the issues and to keep these regulations from following through. The predominant messages that rang through today’s crowd was “Wall St. wasn’t too big to crash. Don’t let our education system crash too.”, and “Education builds our future. Invest in CUNY.” They related this issue with the current financial crisis and tried to propose the idea that education will only provide solutions in these times of desperation. Raising tuition will only make it harder for students to pursue their degrees, will dig into governmental funds and will only continue the cycle of debt when loans are needed to pay the dues. I believe, as many of the protesters, that tuition hikes will only hurt us, more than they will help us. When I got out of class I saw bike racks piled up on the side of the building that must have served as barricades, but from what I was told, the gathering almost spilled onto the street! A rush of disappointment ran through me, because I had not been a part of such an event. Of course it is too soon for me to verify if the rallies taking place all over CUNY colleges made an impact on the decision, or if it was due to the swarm of letters, emails and postcards, but apparently, now the raises will not be finalized until the next fall semester. =) Maybe we can hold more rallies and delay the installments longer.