Students rally against education cuts
March 5, 2012
March 1 marked the National Day of Action for Education at colleges and universities across the country.
Students spent the day protesting on campuses to bring awareness to the decrease in funding for higher education.
"Throughout my whole [college] experience, I've seen things get progressively worse," Temple University senior Diane Isser told Phily.com.
Even President Obama has discussed the increasing cost of a college education.
"You can't assume you'll just jack up tuition every single year. If you can't stop tuition going up, your funding from taxpayers will go down," the president said during a recent speech at the University of Michigan.
According to FinAid.org, tuition tends to increase about 8 percent per year on average.
The College Board reports that the average cost of tuition and fees for the 2011-2012 school year at a four-year, public college or university is $8,244 for in-state residents and $12,526 for those who live out-of-state. At private, four-year colleges and universities, the average tuition is higher - $28,500.
In addition, the Huffington Post reports that in recent years college tuition has gone up at roughly twice the rate of inflation, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Luckily, getting a bachelor's degree doesn't have to financially cripple you. Mothers who want to start or go back to school often qualify for various grants for parents, scholarships for mothers, single mother scholarships and other financial aid to help offset the cost of getting an education.
