Students campaign for funding higher education

Tiffiny Gaston |Staff Writer|

With college tuition on the rise and the funding for higher education on the decline, the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education (CFHE) has stepped in to find ways to fund education.

The main focus of the CFHE is to help faculty, staff and students voice their opinions on funding for higher education.

If education is not funded, California will reach zero funding for public higher education in 2052.

According to CFHE, state support for higher education will zero out in 24 other states, leaving roughly 10 states with continued support by 2100.

The CFHE was launched in order to secure affordable and accessible higher education for all groups of people in society and to allow faculty, staff, students and communities to take part in the process of making a change.

With the United States’ current economic status, the funding for higher education has dropped 10 percent since the recession.

To reduce the decline in funding, CFHE announced three ideas on how to raise money for higher education.

The first concept suggests free higher education and examines the actual cost to provide such an ideal would be.

The idea would work by reallocating current governmental expenditures for higher education and eliminating the regressive tax breaks.

The second concept examines the magnitude of returning to recent, more adequate levels of state funding for higher education.

The third idea involves exploring a currently unused tax revenue source that could be tapped if there were the political will to provide adequate public funding for higher education.

The CFHE ideas for higher education funding could impact the amount of financial aid students receive.

For many years, the United States has used a quality public higher education approach to the funding for colleges and university.

The way the quality public higher education worked was that taxpayers funded public colleges and universities, so that students in need of financial assistance could complete school with a minimum amount of debt as possible.

CSUSB student Kimberly Treloar understands why the government has budget cuts, but does not agree with them.

“I understand the need for them as a way of solving an issue, but I feel they are cutting them from the wrong areas,” said Treloar.

“I believe if they keep cutting government funding for education it will eventually get to the point that higher education will be too expensive for people to afford.”

She also added, “Government funding for higher education is important because it helps those who are unable to afford an education get the help that they need.”

Student Ashlynne Macan does not believe higher education budget cuts are a solution for the governments financial status.

“The government wants smarter workers for them […] college is that stepping stone,” said Macan.