Support the Campaign to Roll Back Tuition to 2010 Levels
A message from the Courage Campaign
Dear UC-AFT member,
If our new, progressive ballot initiative passes in November, California will have $9 billion in new revenue. That's $2.1 billion more than the governor said would balance his proposed budget! But here's the problem -- despite a 300% increase in tuition over the last 10 years -- we still have no commitment from the Governor or the Legislature to reverse tuition hikes and invest in the University of California, California State University, and community college systems.
It now costs a middle-class family more to send a child to a UC or CSU than Harvard or Yale¹, and student protests against exorbitant tuition increases have been front page news for months. On March 5th, more than 10,000 students from all over the state descended on Sacramento and rallied for more funding.
How has Sacramento's responded? Published reports indicate Gov. Brown and UC officials are considering a secret deal that could raise tuition another 15% over the next four years.² In response, student organizations, labor unions, and grassroots organizers from all over the state have come together and signed an open letter demanding that Sacramento decrease tuition in the May budget.
What does Sacramento think is more important than lowering student tuition? Paying back Wall Street bondholders on an accelerated payment schedule, that's what. California's politicians have presided over an unconscionable dis-investment in public universities. The Master Plan for Higher Education, enacted by Gov. Brown's father in 1960, launched an unprecedented economic boom in California and made it the envy of the world. Now that dream is in shambles.
In solidarity,
Eddie Kurtz
Director of Campaigns, Courage Campaign
Issues:
Legislative Work-
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