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UMass students protest paying more for less
BY KRISTEN LOMBARDI
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When Francisco Toro first enrolled at UMass Boston in the fall of 2000, the state’s system of public higher education ranked as the 24th most expensive in the country. But over the past three years — as the budget crunch has tightened in Massachusetts — he’s seen his tuition and fees soar from $4681 to $6227 per year. Now, UMass Boston is set to become the fourth-costliest public university in the nation — and counting. Students returning to the UMass Boston campus last week discovered that the university had hiked its fees by $500 for the fall semester. And fees are slated to rise once again by an additional $750 next January, thus bringing the tuition to $7000. The latest increases are part of the school administration’s plan to bridge a fiscal-year-2004 budget shortfall of as much as $13.8 million. Toro, a 32-year-old junior studying computer science, has this to say about the unpopular hikes: "Every semester students get hit with more and more fees. We want it to stop." On Tuesday, Toro and some 60 of his colleagues at the Casa Latina, a Latino student group, joined dozens of fellow students, faculty, and staff for a noon rally in front of the Wheatley Building to protest the ever-escalating costs at UMass Boston. Protesters are angry about being forced to pay more for an education that, they argue, has diminished in quality since the start of the state’s fiscal crisis. Class sizes have grown, they say, extracurricular programs have disappeared, and experienced, older professors are succumbing to the lure of early retirement. In other words, students are having to pay more for less. Although Toro acknowledges that "the school is broke," he and his fellow students want the UMass trustees to consider the impact such hefty hikes have on those struggling to earn a degree. Toro says he knows at least 20 people who have had to drop out of UMass Boston this semester because of the increases. One friend, a sophomore in computer science, had just settled his account with the UMass Boston bursar’s office last month — only to receive a bill stating that he owed $500 by September 1 and another $750 come January. "He’s not coming back to school, and he’s not the only one," Toro says. Tuesday’s protest is the first in a series of actions that Casa Latina members plan for upcoming weeks. The group is currently collecting signatures to a letter calling for an end to fee hikes, which will be sent to UMass Boston chancellor Jo Ann Gora, as well as to Governor Mitt Romney and state legislators. Of course, that’s if Toro can survive the existing cost increases. Although he works three jobs and receives financial aid, he says he still has a tough time paying for his UMass Boston education. As he puts it, "These fee hikes are pricing us out of the university. We’re losing students left and right."
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