National Day of Action to Defend Education

With the state of the economy today, it should hardly come as a surprise that tuition and fees are skyrocketing at colleges and universities across the country. Here in Connecticut, the foundation of our higher education system, the Connecticut Community Colleges, are increasing tuition and fees by 6.4 percent as of the Fall 2010 semester. The four smaller public universities, Eastern, Southern, Western, and Central, will see a 6.3 percent increase, while UCONN students are facing a 5.9 percent hike (though an increase as high as 7.5 percent was initially proposed). However just because this news is, unfortunately, expected, does not mean it is willingly accepted. Today, March 4th, has been designated as a National Day of Action. At schools around the nation there are protests scheduled, with both students and school employees exercising their voice in this important matter, which is too often kept buried.

It is not too late to get involved! Local Connecticut events include a panel discussion and march at Yale, a rally by UCONN students at the state capitol, and a referendum at Southern's student center this evening. Also, notable for being one of the only efforts at a non-college level in the country, Hartford Public High School is holding a petition drive today. For contact information and event details, as well as national news about the day, visit www.defendeducation.org and click on Events & Contacts. And keep in mind that even if you can't participate today, there are plenty of other ways to get involved in ensuring that our basic right to education in this country does not become a privilege only the wealthy can obtain. The Defend Education website, as well as their Google group and Facebook group, are a great place to find resources on how to help. To read the articles in which the statistics from this post were pulled, visit:

UCONN Trustees Increase Tuition, Room, Board, Fees (Courant.com)

Connecticut Community College Tuition, Fees to Increase 6.4 Percent (Courant.com)

Students, Professors to Protest Education Cutbacks (CNN.com)