Hundreds of students from New York public universities continued their 560-mile march on Tuesday to stop the tuition hikes and financial aid cuts proposed by Governor George Pataki.
Students from the City University of New York (CUNY) and the State University of New York (SUNY), who started their march to Albany in the middle of Sunday’s fog, arrived at the Queens College campus in Flushing on Tuesday morning and from there headed to the New York City College of Technology in Brooklyn.
Other students from Buffalo, began marching east, and the two groups will unite in Albany on March 11.
Student leaders from the New York Public Interest Group (NYPIRG), a state-wide organization for governmental, environmental, and consumer reforms, said that they hope the march shows the governor and the legislators that students are not prepared to accept the cuts.
At the end of January, Pataki proposed increases of up to 35 percent for registration, or $1,200. Previously, the SUNY director proposed an increase of $1,400. Additionally, Pataki proposed the reconstruction of the financial aid program TAP, which would retain one third of the funds until the student graduates.
The governor’s budget also includes a 50 percent reduction in programs like the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP), which benefits disadvantaged students, as well as the elimination of math and science training programs for minority students.
During the march, the students denounced the proposed budget, saying the state budget should not be balanced on the backs of college students. With placards and shouts, they described the injustice of the governor’s proposals.
“I’m marching because my education is already very expensive,” said Debra Lopez, a student at Queens College. Her father works at Pizza Hut part-time and delivers newspapers, her mother baby-sits, and her older sister works in a doctor’s office to help pay for the tuition, she said. “This is our situation now. I can’t imagine what will happen if tuition increases and my financial aid is reduced,” she said.
Today, the students will protest in front of the mayor’s office.
