CHAPTER ONE SURGING TUITION On November 12 2015 thousands of frustrated students flooded the sidewalks at colleges across the United States Chants and signs filled the air as the students marched through their campuses Stop Increasing the Price of My Dream one student's sign read A New Jersey student's sign called for More Skills Less Bills In Utah Education Shouldn't be a Debt Sentence Students at Austin's University of Texas intoned Education should be free No more debt for you and me In Philadelphia a drum line joined the chorus of student voices as megaphone wielding protesters led chants of Hey hey Ho ho Student debt has got to go At campus after campus the rallies all bore the same message Million Student Marchers hailed from community colleges public universities private colleges and for profit institutions
6 the price of higher education has become too high and something must be done These student activists had abandoned their classrooms to join the Million Student March a student led movement devoted to uphold ing the notion of education as a fundamental human right From Massachusetts to Oregon Florida to Hawaii more than 10,000 students from approximately 100 schools nationwide joined the Million Student March's local protests They took to the streets to protest higher education's rising prices and to help shape the national conversation about what college costs look like today according to Beth Huang an organizer who helped the students plan the Million Student March The frustrations the Million Student March protesters expressed are nothing new Their voices are a part of an ongoing and building national conversation about the affordability of higher education But the widespread support of the protests illustrates in clear focus the universality of the problem It shows that the surging price of higher education does not affect one region of the country or one particular type of school
SCHOOL TUITION AND FUNDING AVERAGE TUITION AND FEES 2015 2016 MAIN SOURCE OF FUNDING COMMUNITY COLLEGES AND TECHNICAL SCHOOLS 3,435 government PUBLIC COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES 9,410 In state 23,893 out of state government and tultlon revenues PRIVATE COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES 32,405 endowments tultlon revenues and charitable donations FOR PROFIT INSTITUTIONS 15,610 tultlon
