Advocacy & External Affairs
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Media UpdatesUC Students in the News (media updates provided by the UC Student Association) College students urged by Garamendi to protest cuts Year after year it's the same story. The state can't balance its budget, extreme cuts to education are proposed, and college students protest about higher fees being the Band-Aid for the deficit. This year is no different except that students like UC San Diego's Arundathi Gururajan are being recruited to challenge state lawmakers. As financial debt obliterates student pocketbooks, students are looking to Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, who proposed freezing college fees at 2008-09 levels. Gururajan, 21, a third-year student, said her financial debt is quickly approaching $40,000. She and hundreds of others plan to lobby legislators in March at the University of California's annual student lobby day.
Bad news for state's universities Student leaders from both university systems said they were outraged. Fees have risen six times in the past seven years, and some UC law and business students already will pay 15 percent more overall next year. "I do not have guaranteed funding as a graduate student, and this fee increase is going to directly affect whether I am able to return to school next year," said Louise Hendrickson, president of the UC Student Association and a UC Riverside graduate student. "I have already had to charge one-quarter of my classes on a credit card, thanks to last year's fee increases, and I am currently over $130,000 in debt."
Reaction to Schwarzenegger's state budget proposals "When fees rise, qualified and hardworking students are blocked from attending the University of California. Already fees have risen faster than the average income of hardworking Californians. The governor's budget proposal could mean fees climb by more than 7.4 percent, which students just cannot take." — Louise Hendrickson, president of the University of California Student Association. (printed by San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News)
Louise Hendrickson, president of the UC Student Association and a UC Riverside graduate student, said she might not be able to return to school. "I have ... had to charge one-quarter of my classes on a credit card, thanks to last year's fee increases, and I am currently over $130,000 in debt," she said. |
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