A new semester starts, but many of the same questions about how to afford a college degree remain. For too many students, college is still far from free. Between rising tuition and fees, mounting textbook prices, rent, food, transit and even child care expenses, Syracuse University students deserve a break.

With the economic crisis in 2008, the United States government gradually reduced the subsidies for university finance, and the university relied more heavily on tuition income to survive. Under these circumstances, both public and private universities have witnessed soaring tuition fees, which has resulted in increasing U.S. student loans and enormous pressure on getting access to a degree for students.

Flat state funding has left the burden of paying for our expanding City University of New York and State University of New York institutions increasingly on the backs of students and their families. Tuition has gone up over 35 percent in just seven years at New York’s public universities. The state has two tuition aid programs which are designed to provide free tuition to low and middle income students. Even so, the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) and the governor’s new Excelsior Scholarship continue to box out too many students in need.

Flat state funding has also meant that campuses cannot invest in more classes or student resources. Insufficient course offerings and support services like advisement means that graduating on time is far from the norm. What’s more, this year’s budget proposal includes millions of dollars in cuts to Educational Opportunity Programs, ASAP, SEEK, College Discovery and campus child care centers.These are time-tested, successful services that support New York’s most financially vulnerable students through to graduation.They deserve more funding, not less.

In short, our state representatives are responsible for ensuring all New Yorkers have access to a degree, because higher education is a right. When students organize together, sending a message that students deserve more from their government, real change happens. Join NYPIRG and hundreds of students across the state for Higher Education Action Day on Feb. 28 in Albany to share your story and fight for an accessible, affordable higher education. A cost-free, debt-free, public higher education is in New York’s future. Join us in the fight to get there.

Stop by the NYPIRG office in 732 S. Crouse Ave. to learn more. If interested, contact us at ethompson@nypirg.org or 315-412-5357.

Ethan Thompson

NYPIRG project coordinator

Published on February 18, 2018 at 8:24 pm