The state and national climate around higher education is
telling us one simple fact: Students cannot access higher education without
incurring large amounts of debt. This is a problem like no generation has ever
seen, and it will impact us for years to come. When legislators present
legislation in order to assist students in paying for college, any time is the
right time. However, the Editorial Board of The Badger Herald disagrees.
In an editorial yesterday (?Right plan, wrong time,? Jan. 31) the Editorial
Board said students need to wait on the back burner due to other state
priorities. But does the board remember that for the past two state budgets
students have taken on the burden of balancing the budget with sky-high
percentage increases in their tuition? Students need more financial aid, and
for the past five years students have waited, protested and advocated for
themselves.
Bottom line, tuition increases price students out of the University of
Wisconsin System. As the financial obligation of students? families goes up
each year, the idea of a student working his or her way through a UW school is
becoming a myth ? a myth some legislators still like to perpetuate. Therefore,
when legislators are in touch with student financial needs, their efforts
should be appreciated, not pushed away.
Recession or otherwise, for the Editorial Board to not recognize the importance
of this legislation is nothing short of a slap in the face of thousands of
students on this campus and around the state who need the grant increases.
Moreover, for the Editorial Board to not understand that a recession affects
students is bewildering. Recessions do not just hit full-time employees, but
they also hit part-time student employees, student parents and parents with
children in college as well.
It is imperative that this legislation is introduced and passed so that
low-income students are not left with monetary gaps they cannot fill. Any time
is the right time for students who need access to UW schools.
Jane Wierzbicki
UW graduate student
Anthropology
