Hello friends; it’s been awhile since we last spoke and much has happened on campus and abroad. Although I was on hiatus from the Technician, I was extremely busy — driving from place to place, offering criticism and counsel to various businesses, organizations and candidates. And as I sat in the various living rooms, board rooms and conference halls, I was made aware of all the different kinds of problems our state and its people are facing, including affordability and accessibility to a quality education.
Ask any middle class family in North Carolina why it wants for its kids to come to N.C. State, or one of our sister UNC system institutions, and the answer is quite simple, “to provide an opportunity” — an opportunity for a better life, a better education, a better tomorrow. Ask these same families why they didn’t come to State and the answer is simple, “we couldn’t afford it.” All too often middle-income families are unable to afford a college education, yet they don’t qualify for state and federal need-based financial aid.
Plainly stated, affordability enables the most qualified students to earn a college degree, regardless of their economic status. But, are we doing enough to make our schools accessible? Or are our brightest minds fleeing to attend out-of-state universities because they have been offered more attractive scholarships and financial aid awards?
Obviously we cannot rely on politicians, trustees or administrators to take up our fight. They have a proven track record of escalating the costs of N.C.’s higher education opportunities while serving their self-interest. Perhaps we need to take a cue from students in California, who are doing something proactive in response to the growing tide of increasing costs.
On Wednesday, California students and their families filed a statewide ballot initiative to freeze tuition at schools in the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) systems. These two systems are composed of 33 institutions with an enrollment of over 630,000 students. According to Tuition Relief Now, the law or proposition “would freeze tuition for 5 years for resident undergraduates in both UC and CSU. After those five years, any future tuition increases would not be allowed to exceed the inflation index.” The proposal would also raise revenue for the state’s universities through a one percent tax on income over $1 million. For the tuition freeze measure to appear on the November 2008 ballot in California, organizers will need to gather more than 433,000 signatures within 150 days.
Utsav Gupta, a student at UC San Diego, said of the ballot initiative, “We can’t get the legislature to pass a fee policy. We can’t get the UC Regents and CSU Trustees to demand more state investment. Students need to try something new.” Does this sound familiar? The same thing rings true in N.C. — those responsible have abdicated their duties. However, N.C. students have yet to “try something new.”
What will that something new be? I don’t know, perhaps a class action lawsuit. But I do know this — the fight is not yet over.
Students will you take up the fight for affordable higher education? Tell us at viewpoint@technicianonline.com.
