The Pell Grant will be underfunded by $5.5 billion next year.  Tuition is going up 8% every year for a national average.  Student debt is now the largest form of debt in the United States, surpassing credit card debt.  65,000 students are denied the right to an education every year based on their documentation status.

These somber facts and figures led to students walking out of classes and holding more than 75 rallies in 25 states yesterday, as higher education faces the largest crisis it has ever come up against.  Students declared a National Day of Action to Defend Higher Education, organized in part by the Student Labor Action Project.

At Wichita State University, students created a guillotine with debt as the blade coming down on their heads. “Debt is cutting us off from the jobs we used to dream of having, like being a teacher,” said Aaron Rivers, a student at Wichita State. “It forces us into the corporate sector to find a higher paying

Continue reading Budget Cuts Don’t Heal: Defend Higher Education Day of Action

In this Update…  A Fall Semester Full of Action!  News from the Field:  SLAP at University of Central Florida; SLAP at Temple University;  Boston SLAP;  UC Walkouts.  Tell Aramark and Sodexo to help stop the “harvest of shame”!  Report back from National Student Labor Week of Action.  JwJ Economic Recovery week of action and Chicago mobilization.  USSA.  Fight for Health Care Reform on October 20th!  Union Plus Scholarship & Contest

During these hard economic times, it imperative that we as students continue working and fighting in our universities for workers’ rights and educational access for all.

With ongoing budget cuts, we have seen students coming together with local labor unions in the fight against the corporatization of our universities and the right to an education for all. Here at the national level we are excited to see all the amazing work students are doing fighting budget cuts such as the student, faculty and staff walkouts in the University of California system and the many other actions across the

Continue reading SLACtivist News: A Fall Semester Full of Action!