Education is a right. Education is fundamental - it's more than just a stepping stone towards a career. An educated citizenry is an essential element in the creation of a democratic society - a society in which individuals control the resources upon which they depend as well as the decisions that affect their lives.
To deny access to education on the basis of wealth is both a gross violation of individual rights and a profound abandonment of the ideals of democracy. The rising cost of post-secondary education is therefore a cause for deep concern, both for individuals and for educational institutions.
Brown made a commitment to accessible education - although late relative to other Ivies - by instituting a need-blind admissions policy. We believe Brown should live up to the spirit of the need-blind promise by following the example set by Princeton University and other institutions that have declared a tuition freeze. Brown should shift to a policy of financial assistance based on grants and scholarships rather than increasingly crushing student loans.
The Corporation recently approved, without student input, a 5 percent increase in tuition and student fees. Next year, students will be paying $1,696 more in tuition. This sort of unilateral action has become a common University practice.
Making decisions, especially financial ones, without even an invitation to student involvement is inherently undemocratic. It places the interests of students behind those of the institution which supposedly serves them. The Corporation is clearly more concerned with the financial well-being of the University than with the financial realities its students face.
Today, we pay double the amount in tuition and fees that students did 15 years ago. This rate of annual increase - on average 5.75 percent - is more than twice the average rate of inflation over the same period, 2.45 percent. To allow the cost of an already unaffordable education to increase at such an astronomical rate is socially irresponsible.
Current total undergraduate charges amount to $45,948 per year. This is almost $4,000 per year more than the total annual median household income in the United States. In 10 years, at the current average rate of increase, the cost of tuition alone will be $62,238. This rise is incompatible with the belief that education is a right rather than a privilege - a belief that we hope the University shares.
The myth that financial aid solves the inaccessibility of high tuition is just that - a myth. What financial aid really does is saddle those who cannot afford tuition with crushing loans at increasingly high interest rates.
Student debt has already become a crisis: It is increasing nationally at more than $2,000 a second, with a total national burden of $462 billion. This surpasses the annual Department of Defense budget by over $50 billion.
The University, through student initiatives like the New Curriculum, has historically been committed to the values of accessible education and to a student-focused process of participatory learning. However, recent insular administrative decisions have made it obvious that this commitment is wavering. Students didn't even know the new registration system Banner, a $23 million expense, was going to be implemented - it was introduced without student involvement or consent. The University has also dramatically cut funding for graduate students, a decision made unilaterally without the consent of the students it will affect.
Brown prides itself on providing an environment where students have the freedom to craft their own education. We are promised we will have direct involvement in our entire educational experience, yet we have been repeatedly excluded from decisions that shape that experience.
The rising cost of education and the insularity of Brown's decision-making process are fundamental problems that need to be addressed. The environment they produce privileges creating an "efficient," affluent University rather than a center of liberal learning. This is a betrayal of everything the New Curriculum stands for.
In the face of these trends, it is necessary for us, the students, to proclaim our concerns, needs and rights in a manner that the administration cannot ignore. Democratic education and intellectual growth require our individual and collective engagement.
The financial inaccessibility of higher education is a problem not just for those who cannot afford the membership fee. We are all being denied the right to attend an institution that truly promotes democratic ideals and the principle of education accessible to all.
Princeton could afford to freeze their tuition - it's clear that other private institutions, like Brown, can do the same. It is time for us, the students, to recover our place as active participants in the Brown community.
Alex Ortiz '09, Alex Tye '10, Amy Littlefield '09, Bucky Rogers '07, Donata Secondo '10, Ella Chary '07, Ingrid O'Brien '07, Jason Hitchner '10, Nicole Carty '10, Noah Wiener '09, Margaree Little '08.5, Mike da Cruz '08.5, Rick Ahl '09, Robin Peckham '10, Senia Barragan '08, Will Emmons '09, Will Lambek '09, Will Pasley '07, Vale Cofer-Shabica '09, Connor Ashenbrucker '10, Alex Campbell '10 and Liz Sperber '06 are members of the Brown chapter of Students for a Democratic Society.
