Students Rally to Stop Higher Ed Funding Cuts
East Stroudsburg University student Emily Sasz
Fed up with the prospect of another round of deep budget cuts, several hundred students marched down State Street and up the state capitol steps on Wednesday. They carried signs that read “Some Cuts Never Heal” and Save Our Ship;” the latter of course referring to Shippensburg University, which is one of the 14-schools that compose the State System of Higher Education.
West Chester University senior Rachel Wittman has already seen the effects last year’s 18% funding cuts have had on campus. “Some classes just got completely cut,” Wittman explains. “Those are things that these people are passionate about, that they want to do, they want to learn, but they can’t.” Tuition was also hiked by more than $400-dollars across the system for the current school year.
Edinboro University student Kristina Kaiser
This year Governor Tom Corbett has proposed 20% cuts for the State System, and California University of Pennsylvania grad student Shane Assadzandi is fed up. “This year when the pattern continued, myself and several students at our school, we knew it was time to stand up and take a stand against this.”
Radio PA also caught up with APSCUF President Steve Hicks at the capitol rally. “You’re going to hurt working class families, middle class families in the Commonwealth, and you’re going to shrink the number of degrees at a time when we need to increase it,” he says. Hicks ultimately hopes for level funding in the new state budget. APSCUF represents faculty and coaches at the 14-State System Schools.
