Brooklyn College Ask for Admin Support in the Face of Tuition Hikes
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As you know, despite attempts by students, faculty, and staff, New York State has continued to deplete funding for the City University of New York. These cuts have made CUNY increasingly inaccessible to the low-income communities that this institution was originally intended to serve. While we understand that the root cause of tuition hikes is the gross mismanagement of the budget at the hands of Governor Cuomo, the administration of Brooklyn College is nevertheless responsible to uphold the ideal of accessible education for all.
That being said, the students of Brooklyn College have not seen a supportive response by the administration on our campus in regards to the budget cuts since the implementation of the Supplemental Tuition Assistance Fund in the Spring of 2011. We write to you asking for the Brooklyn College administration to subsidize the following student expenses and extend the following student services:
1) Free printing for all students. Student’s previously were given $30 worth of printing credit, which has now been reduced by half to $15 worth. A student who has multiple teachers demanding a paper copy of their work, who is not in an economic position to pay for these excessive printing fees is automatically placed at a disadvantage by the school system as opposed to a student with greater economic privilege.2) Subsidize $100 per semester, per student to cover a portion of the costs of all books and course packets for core and required classes. The average cost a student will spend over the course of their academic year on required textbooks and course packets is $1,100 (according to the GAO as of 2005). The huge burden of cost that is placed on economically disadvantaged students often results in a routine decision making process between a student paying for their own basic needs such as rent or food and the purchasing of a required textbook.
3) Extend all library hours seven days a week from 8 am to midnight.Currently students have access to the Cafe Library 24 hours a day, which has very limited capacity for the whole student body (16,822 total students as of Fall 2011). The general Library has limited hours, with Friday service ending at 3pm, Saturday and Sunday service hours ending at 5pm. It is an integral part of a student’s academic success to be able to study, research, write and print. These resources are necessary for conducting the quality research that we as CUNY students are capable of. To limit this service, places students who may not have access to a computer or resources outside of the campus or those who must take weekend classes at a severe disadvantage.
We believe that only through these and other similar measures can students of all economic classes have access to a quality education on our campus. We look forward to your response by 12:00pm on April 16th, 2012.
Sincerely,
Concerned students of Brooklyn College
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