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The student government of Ottawa’s Carelton University has apologized for passing a resolution withdrawing its support for cystic fibrosis fundraising.
As we noted over the weekend, the Carleton student government had announced that it was dropping cystic fibrosis research as a beneficiary of its fundraising efforts because it had learned that the disease “only affect[ed] white people, and primarily men.” Neither of those statements turned out to be true.
At a packed public meeting on Monday, the president of the student government personally apologized for the resolution. The student government then went on to unanimously pass a resolution of apology, as well as a separate resolution pledging to increase campus cystic fibrosis fundraising going forward.
The author of the original resolution has resigned his position in student government.
Here’s an incredible statistic. Last year, the cost of a year in college — public college — rose to fifty-five percent of the median family income of families in the bottom 20% of earnings in the US.
You read that right. For the average family in the bottom 20% of American households, sending just one family member to college will eat up more than half of your total family income for the year.
But financial aid will help with that, right? Wrong. That figure is for net cost, after financial aid has been factored in.
After inflation, tuition and fees at American colleges and universities have risen 439% in the last twenty-five years, and students from lower-income families now receive less aid per student than their wealthier counterparts.
These numbers come from a new a report on college costs from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. As the president of the Center told the Times, these numbers are feeding a growing educational gap between the US and other countries we’re competing against in the global economy. “Already, we’re one of the few countries where 25- to 34-year-olds are less educated than older workers,” he says, and the situation is likely to grow worse in years to come.
The full report is online here.
Northampton Community College in Pennsylvania is offering free tuition for “individuals who have recently become unemployed due to business or industry plant closing or layoff.”
The program, which has been implemented twice in the past, offers local residents 12 credits worth of classes in career programs, or up to $900 in free non-credit work-related classes.
(Thanks to Bill Shiebler of USSA for the heads-up.)
For Student Power has a meaty new post up on tactics and strategies for organizing around campus budgeting issues in this time of economic crisis. Check it out.
studentactivism.net 
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