College students filled the Capitol steps today to rally against rising tuition at the state’s higher-learning institutions.
The gathering was led by two student groups representing colleges and universities from across the state: the State Student Advisory Council, which represents 13 community colleges, and the Associated Students of Colorado
Mark Masters, a University of Colorado sociology student, said he is concerned an education that is relatively affordable now may not remain that way into the future.
“I’m here because I want to learn more about the budget and what’s really happening with it,” Masters said. “I haven’t felt any repercussions yet from what the state is doing but I want to keep it that way.”
The turnout was motivated in part by successive cuts to the state’s higher-education budget. The trend has prompted calls from some college and university leaders for more leeway over setting their tuition–or “tuition flexibility”–to offset the dropoff in revenue from the state.
Math student Nathan Ferdig wants to transfer to Colorado State University after he finishes at Red Rocks Community College, but he said he’s worried that he won’t be able to.
“I want to transfer to a four-year school, but I don’t have a lot of money, and they’re talking about cutting the budget for higher-ed,” Ferdig said. “I’m afraid that my tuition will go up too much.”
Fellow Red Rocks student Josh Kampel and one of the rally organizers echoed Ferdig’s concerns and was waving a handwritten sign that said, “I want to go to Mississippi because they’re at least 49th”–a reference to claims that Colorado ranks 50th in funding for high-ed. However, Kampel said he would rather stay in Colorado.
“I want to stay in the state, but I’m afraid because of what’s going on with the budget,” said Kampel.
According to Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, higher-ed used to be 24 percent of the budget but is now down to 7 percent. Schwartz, who attended but did not participate in the rally, said she admired the passion the students exhibited at the rally and was impressed with what they were trying to accomplish.
“I appreciate their passion and that they recognize the problem,” said Schwartz. “Every year there’s some form of this issue because we have not been making the kind of commitment to higher ed that we should be making.”
The GOP’s Sen. Nancy Spence, of Centennial, noted that a higher education in Colorado is still more affordable than in most states.
“Students need to realize that we’ve hit some pretty hard economic times, but the good news is that public higher-ed schools in Colorado are still a pretty good deal,” said Spence.
Spence said she is a supporter of tuition flexibility, if needed, for Colorado’s higher-ed institutions.
“In this fiscal climate there is not much we can do about the funding. If flexibility is what they need, then we need to let them do that,” said Spence.