Students express tuition concerns

The UNC-Association of student government has put together a better way for students attending the 16 constituent universities to be heard by the general assembly concerning tuition increases and budget cuts, and the financial effects on students attending the universities. It is called PersonalStories.org. “I’m trying to find a way for lawmakers to see past the administrative end of the University and see the faces of the people their decisions affect,” said Amanda Devore, the leader of personalStories.org, and a senior at North Carolina State University. The goal of the committee is to receive 100 stories from each campus about how tuition increases and budget cuts have affected student’s financial status by December 1. “We plan to have 1600 stories from students around the state, and compile them into a book to give it to the general assembly,’ explained junior class president, Tiffany Richmond, WSSU’s representative for this project, “This book will give students a voice about their tuition.” Project PeronalStories.org is an effort to make article 9 section 9 of the North Carolina constitution true. The article says, “The General Assembly shall provide that the benefits of The University of North Carolina and other public institutions of higher education, as far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of expense.” “Often time lawmakers use the excuse for tuition increases that they won’t really affect students particularly since parents pay their tuition anyway. And for budget cuts they claim that they won’t have any real effect on students and they will instead simply “cut the fat.” This book will prove that all of the above excuses are completely untrue,” commented Devore. As an effort of getting Winston-Salem State students to participate in this project, the junior class council reserved the academic lab in R.J. Reynolds on November 12 to help students fill out the online form. “We had many students come in and we drafted a lot of students out of the other lab to complete our goal,” explained Tiffany Richmond.