Tuition

South Africa: The Meaning Of The #FeesMustFall Movement

October 27, 2015 Ben Morken, www.marxist.com Resist! #FeesMustFall, South Africa, Student Protests, Tuition

By Ben Morken for In Defense of Marxism - On Friday, 23 October, South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, announced that there will be no increases to student university fees for next year. This was a clear attempt by the government to contain a movement which has became too big to control. This is evident from last Friday’s events. While Zuma was meeting with vice-chancellors and academics, students were kept on the south lawns of the Union Buildings in the scorching sun. Earlier, the #FeesMustFall movement had refused to meet with the president behind closed doors. This is a clear indication of the mistrust which the movement has for the government and of those in power.

South African Student Protests

October 26, 2015 Patrick Bond, www.telesurtv.net Resist! South Africa, Student Protests, Tuition

By Patrick Bond for Tele Surv TV - Students fought back against proposed tuition hikes – and won. The university students have been furious, as their cry “Fees must fall!” rang out on campuses and sites of political power across this society. An historic victory over South African neoliberalism was just won through the most intense three-week burst of activist mobilization since liberation from apartheid in 1994. The liberation movement rulers in the African National Congress (ANC) have faced unprecedented socio-economic pressure and unrest.

South African Students Win Freeze On Tuition Increases

October 24, 2015 Sarah Lazare, www.commondreams.org Resist! South Africa, Student Protests, Tuition

By Sarah Lazare for Common Dreams - Facing the largest student uprisings since South Africans toppled apartheid, President Jacob Zuma pledged Friday to halt tuition fee increases in the year 2016—prompting declarations of victory, as well as calls to continue the mass mobilizations until free education is won for all. "A famous victory won by the hard struggle of students. We are all humbled," Salim Vally, associate professor of education and director of the Center for Education Rights and Transformation at the University of Johannesburg, told Common Dreams. "The determination and resoluteness of the students forced the hand of government. This was clear to many even before the sun rose this morning."

Whites Form Human Shield Protecting Black Protesters from Police in SA

October 23, 2015 Staff, www.caribflame.com Resist! South Africa, Student Protests, Tuition

By Staff of EUR Web - *A group of white students in South Africa formed a human shield to protect black student demonstrators from police officers that had previously used force against the predominantly black crowd protesting rising university fees. According to enca.com, protests under the #FeesMustFall movement are intensifying across the country as students continue their demand for no increase in college fees. Police had used force on Monday afternoon, when students from Rhodes University went to support their peers at the Eastcape Midlands College (EMC), according to Rhodes’ independent publication, Activate.

South African Students Shut Down Schools; Demand Free Education

October 23, 2015 Ben Morken, www.caribflame.com Resist! South Africa, Student Protests, Tuition

By Ben Morken for In Defense of Marxism - Wednesday’s events marked a qualitative change in the entire situation.It represents the early winds which precede a coming hurricane which is on course to make a direct hit. The immediate catalyst for the protests is the recently announced increase in university fees, and more generally the exorbitant cost of higher education, which exclude the poor and mostly black students from the higher education system. The scenes which played themselves out on Wednesday were unprecedented for an entire generation of students.

South Africa Universities Close Amid Student Fee Protests

October 20, 2015 Staff, www.bbc.com Resist! South Africa, Student Protests, Tuition

By Staff of BBC News - Protests over fee increases have forced the suspension of teaching at three of South Africa's top universities. Protests have spread from Johannesburg's Wits University, closed last week after thousands demonstrated on campus, to the universities of Rhodes and Cape Town (UCT). Wits University agreed to suspend a 10.5% tuition fee increase on Friday, pending negotiations with students. Protesters argue that poorer, mainly black students would be worst affected. A statement from Wits University said that a decline in state subsidy over the years, combined with inflationary pressures, were behind the fee increases in recent years.

Tuition Hikes, Nova Scotia Students Occupy Finance Minister’s Office

April 16, 2015 Evan Webster, www.thechronicleherald.ca Resist! Canada, Student Activism, Student Debt, Tuition

A group of disgruntled Halifax university students brought their issues with the new provincial budget right to Finance Minister Diana Whalen’s doorstep. Coming from Dalhousie and St. Mary’s universities, as well as the University of King’s College and NSCAD University, the group of about 15 students held a study-in on Monday at Whalen’s constituency office on Lacewood Drive. “We’re here because this government has proposed the most radical changes to tuition policy in our lifetime, the total deregulation of fees,” said John Hutton, 25, a Dal economics and international development student. “Nova Scotia’s students already graduate, on average, $35,000 in debt. This budget will only make what’s already a crisis worse.”

Making Community College Free For All

September 11, 2014 Yessenia Funes, www.alternet.org Create! Community, Education, Tuition

“It won’t, by itself, eradicate poverty,” Hass says, “but I think it’s a very positive step in the right direction of not only reducing poverty but also meeting the needs of employers who are trying to find qualified people for jobs.” Several of Mississippi’s community colleges already offer free tuition, but state Rep. Jerry Turner won’t stand for “several.” He wants to make all 15 of the state’s community colleges free. Turner authored a bill that proposed that idea, and though it died in committee earlier this year, it’ll be up for discussion again in January. Alabama and other states neighboring Mississippi are also looking into the idea. David Baime, senior vice president for government relations and research for the American Association of Community Colleges, expects efforts that address the cost of college will grow. While he thinks these policies are positive, Baime worries about the less well-prepared students and the part-time students who work and will be excluded by full-time eligibility requirements. “Sometimes, the students who are sort of on the margin are left behind,” Baime says. Kell Smith, the director of communications and legislative service for the Mississippi Community College Board, says full-time requirements encourage students not only to complete school but to complete it in a timely manner.

Why Campus Administrators Make So Much Money?

July 27, 2014 Lawrence S. Wittner, www.hnn.us Educate! College, Student Debt, Tuition

The soaring incomes of campus administrators are paralleled by their soaring numbers. Between 1993 and 2009, their numbers reportedly increased by 60 percent, to 230,000―ten times the rate of growth of the faculty. According to a February 2014 report by the American Institutes for Research, between 1987 and 2012 the number of administrators at private universities doubled, while their numbers in central university system offices rose by a factor of 34. A look at one university system is instructive. Between 1975 and 2008, the total number of administrators at California State University rose 221 percent (from 3,800 to 12,183), compared to an increase in full-time faculty of less than 4 percent (from 11,614 to 12,019). CSU thereby achieved the distinction (since then, rapidly fading) of having more administrators than full-time faculty members.

The Great Cost Shift On Higher Education

April 14, 2014 Robert Hiltonsmith, Tamara Draut, www.demos.org Educate! Finance and the Economy, Tuition

Since the founding of public higher education, our nation has moved progressively toward expanding the doors of access. But in the last generation, we have moved in the opposite direction. State higher education funding on a per-student basis is lower today than it was in 1980. Federal financial aid no longer provides grants robust enough to defray the rising cost of college. As student debt continues to climb, it’s important to understand how our once debt-free system of public universities and colleges has been transformed into a system in which most students borrow, and at increasingly higher amounts. In less than a generation, our nation’s higher education system has become a debt-for-diploma system—more than seven out of 10 college seniors now borrow to pay for college and graduate with an average debt of $29,400.

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