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Public universities across America are raising tuition so high that many students simply can’t afford it.
For example, the University of California system is boosting its average undergraduate tuition from $7,788 to $10,302. [1]
In five states, public universities already charge undergraduates on average more than $10,000 per year for tuition and fees. [2]
It’s outrageous that US politicians sign blank checks for war, yet turn their backs on young Americans struggling to get an education.
Tell your members of Congress to support tuition-free higher education at public universities.
State governments are justifying massive tuition hikes as a necessary evil in the face of growing state budget deficits. But the real question is one of priorities.
Congress recently passed the largest military budget in US history, [3] while Wall Street enjoyed a massive $14 trillion bailout. [4]
Our members of Congress must prioritize education above endless wars and subsidies for corporate profits.
The future of our nation depends on making quality education available for our young people.
Tell your members of Congress now: support tuition-free higher education at public universities!
Notes:
1. Jenna Johnson and Daniel de Vise, “Students protest cuts to higher-education funds.” Washington Post, March 4, 2010.
2. College Board, Trends in college pricing. October 20, 2009.
3. Tony Capaccio, “Congress Approves $636.3 Billion for Defense in Fiscal 2010.” Bloomberg, December 16, 2009.
4. “Behind the real size of the bailout.” Mother Jones, December 21, 2009.
4 Comments
So your saying we should abandon the women of Afghanistan after we gave them hope and tell them to give up their schools and put their burkas back on?
I am all for funding colleges – I agree with much of what you said – but our country, like it or not, invaded Afghanistan and, like they say,”you broke it its yours”. There are not easy answers to the question – this is not Vietnam, where corporate interests were followed. Yes we have to cut military spending but Afghanistan is not the place to do it. Lets pull our troops out of Guam and Germany for a start. “Endless Wars” is a nice sound bite but the truth is much more difficult. I’m a Quaker and abhor war but I’m also a feminist and I abhor what the Taliban is doing to women.
“fixing Afghanistan” sounds nice but the truth is that we are not capable of fixing it.
As for education, dunno about free but cheap sounds good to me. I really don’t think students should be leaving college with anything more than maybe 20K in loans to pay off.
IMO, as much as I wanted to change their circumstances, I think the U.S. military has blown the chance we had to help the women of Afghanistan. We’ve had at least one well-known Afghan woman come and visit and tell us we need to get out, that we’ve made things worse.
Kind of like we did in Iraq.
The women of Afghanistan have loudly advocated that America get its self-righteous, sanctimonious ASS out of their country. See here.