For the third time this quarter, Ohio University students protested a potential 3.5-percent tuition increase.
Wednesday featured the largest showing by far, as more than 50 students armed with signs and megaphones made their way across College Green, eventually settling on the lawn of Scripps Hall across from Baker University Center.
OU’s Board of Trustees is expected to vote on the proposed increase this week.
Some students chanted “higher education, not a corporation” repeatedly, while others gave personal testimonies about the amount of debt each student has accrued.
The effects of tuition increases are long lasting, said Jess Miller, a sophomore studying journalism.
“I don’t even want to think about bringing children into the world and have them become intelligent and contributing members of society only to tell them that I can’t afford to send them to college,” Miller said.
If the proposed 3.5-percent increase passes, Athens campus undergraduate tuition would jump to $10,215 per year, up from the current annual cost of $9,870. A 3.5-percent tuition increase is the maximum allowed by Ohio law.
Tuition hikes harm students not only financially but also ideologically, said Tyler Barton, a senior studying chemistry.
“We as a society should be helping people pay for a higher education,” Barton said. “We protested, did a sit-in and met with President McDavis one on one.
We’ve done everything to voice our concerns to the Student Senate. Talk to your representative. I urge you to call the Board of Trustees. We can’t accept another tuition increase.”
If approved, the hike would be OU’s third since 2010, when former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland’s statewide tuition freeze was not renewed.
The effect of already costly tuition drove away some students from achieving a degree, said Torin Jacobs, a senior studying education.
“Four of my friends can’t go to Ohio University anymore because it’s getting too expensive,” Jacobs said. “The university should be cutting from the top, not the bottom.”
The university, however, has not turned a deaf ear to students’ voices, President Roderick McDavis said.
“I certainly appreciate the fact that students have a very serious interest in that issue and have every opportunity to express themselves,” he said. “We’ve taken a huge amount of time listening to them.”
The university should pay closer to attention to the students individually, Miller said.
“I dare President McDavis to look me in the eye and tell me that the tuition cost is good for me,” she said. “I’m not a number. I dare Ohio University to look me and 20,000 students in the face and tell us that this tuition hike is necessary. We’re not a bank account.”
hy135010@ohiou.edu
