Gateway Protesters To State: Don’t Hike Our Tuition

Gateway Community College student and Board of Regents student representative Alina Wheeler lives on the edge — of affording to be able to stay in school, of being ​“just poor enough” to have her healthcare covered as she works towards graduating.

She and fellow community college students in similarly precarious spots are now worried they might not be able to finish out their educations thanks to a potential increase in tuition that could be coming down the pike now that the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities Board of Regents has announced plans to raise tuition at state universities by 3 percent.

Wheeler and roughly 50 students, professors, high school teachers, community members and SEIU union organizers voiced those fears Thursday night during a protest outside of Gateway Community College’s campus downtown on Church Street. 

They called on the Board of Regents to stop tuition hikes, and they criticized state government for failing to tax its wealthiest residents fairly all while many students of color and from marginalized backgrounds struggle to attend college. The protestors also called for the state to put together a long-term plan to make state colleges free and increase investment in public education.

Thursday’s protest came roughly three months after the Board of Regents for Higher Education voted last October to increase tuition and fee rates by 3 percent at state universities for the 2023 – 2024 academic year. 

According to New Haven Biz, that increase will see a bump of $15 per credit, or $184 per semester, for full-time undergraduate students at Central, Eastern, Southern, and Western Connecticut State Universities. CSCU president Terrence Chang told that publication that the ​“tuition and fee adjustment balances the need to maintain affordability at our state universities with the significant fiscal issues we face.”

CSCU Leigh Appelby spokesperson told the Independent for this article that no tuition hikes are currently being discussed for Connecticut community colleges. However, he added that ​“the current financial situation across the CSCU system underscores the need for state investment in order to keep tuition low while providing much-needed supports to help our students succeed and complete” their education.

At Thursday’s protest outside Gateway, state SEIU board member Kooper Caraway argued that the only reason why CSCU has not raised tuition yet on community colleges is because they are afraid of public backlash.

In-state tuition for full-time undergraduates at Gateway is currently around $4,500 per semester.

“Tuition has gone up 250 percent since 2000,” Gateway Community College English professor Eric Maroney said at the protest. ​“That means 20 years ago I could attend a public Connecticut university for less than what it costs to attend community college for one year now. Dollars represent our values and legislators are passing the responsibility of funding our education onto the backs of our students. We’re going to oppose tuition hikes because they’re not working.”

According to Liz Demsky, a counselor at Wilbur Cross High School, about 45 percent of the local high school’s students apply to community college out of high school. Before tuition increases, these students, many of whom are undocumented immigrants, were already struggling to make ends meet.

“Increasing the tuition will just add fuel to the fire,” Demsky said. ​“With rising costs and tuition and lack of access to financial aid resources. These students are ultimately unable to afford to attend. The students are devastated and truly dejected with these prospects.”

“We are not investing in our future. In such a wealthy state we can not balance budgets on the back of students,” she added.

Adilene Rodriguez, a recent graduate of Hillhouse High School, spoke too.

Rodriguez said she hopes to study criminology. She said she’ll likely have to go to work instead. As an immigrant, she said is not eligible for federal financial aid. She said both of her parents work two jobs and 80-hour weeks.

“I don’t even know if I want to go to college anymore even though I’ve dreamed of studying criminology since I came here from Mexico,” Rodriguez said. ​“My family just can’t afford it and I have younger siblings who also want to go to college.”

Rodriguez called on the state to lower costs and make education accessible to students like her.

Another speaker, Nayeli Garcia who is a part-time student at Gateway added to Rodriguez’s plea for lower costs, saying that she can’t take more classes at Gateway because the $1,600 she currently pays for two classes is already a stretch.

“In this country, education has become a luxury for some rather than a right for everyone,” Garcia said. ​“I want to take more than two classes a semester but that’s already a lot and I have to pay out of pocket because there is no aid because we are immigrants.”

Current financial aid has also not kept up with rising expenses, with Wheeler saying that aid would normally cover $600 for textbook and costs, but this semester she has closer to $300 for textbooks and other expenses.

Organizers plan on continuing their protests in Hartford on Saturday where they will call on the state to stop tuition increases, expand access to financial aid and create a long term plan to make state colleges and community colleges free for all.

“In one of the richest states in the nation, Gov. Lamont has failed to keep up to his promises of making public education affordable,” Carraway said. ​“He can’t balance the budget by cutting funding for schools.”