Students, open your wallets!

Students, can you spot Kentucky some cash? One more time?

The Kentucky Legislature didn't want to ask the state's richest to pay their fair share, so students, once again, are footing part of their bill. As the legislature anticipates the Special Session to balance the budget, Kentucky's public universities are calling for 5% and 6% tuition hikes in anticipation of budget cuts.  These increases are on top of a decade of tuition hikes that average out to be 10% a year. 

Over the last five years, in-state tuition for Kentucky's public universities has gone up about 57%.  Think about your family's income over the last five years.  Has it gone up 57%?  No way!  Not even close, right?  Most families are doing well just to have kept up with the 18% cost of living increase since 2005.

Well that's too bad, but what about financial aid?

Nope, not right now. 

Kentucky's College Access Program is supposed to help struggling students afford college through loans.  But CAPS is state funded, and is yet another victim of the legislators' failure to pass revenue reforms.  This year's deadline for students to apply for financial aid was March 15.  More than 16,000 students applied in the week leading up to the deadline.  Because of the legislature's failure to pass revenue reforms, each of those 16,599 students have been told that despite being qualified and meeting the deadline, they can't be helped because the state is out of money.  (You can read more in this Courier-Journal article. It also attracted the attention of the Huffington Post.)  This is a colossal failure on the part of our legislators who aren't standing up for comprehensive and fair revenue reforms.

But this isn't a new problem.  According to a MACED report about Investing in Kentucky's Working Families, almost half of the people who applied and qualified for need-based financial aid in 2008 were turned away, leaving 45,000 would-be students behind.  And in 2009, the funds available were $64 million short of the funds needed.

Folks are expected to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.  The very least that our legislators can do is stop cutting the straps.

Bottom line?

For the last nine years, our legislators have been able to choose between revenue reforms that ask the state's wealthiest to contribute their fair share, or continued cuts to all the state programs and services and systems that keep up healthy, wealthy, and wise, including higher ed.  For the last nine years, they've chosen the latter.  All of us, including our students, are paying the price.

Take Action!

Call your legislators!

It’s time to make your voice heard for meaningful revenue reforms to sustain public services. Please take three minutes to call your state representative and senator, along with Speaker Stumbo, and Senate President Williams.  Tell them that Kentucky shouldn't keep asking students to foot the bill for the state's wealthiest, and that now is the time to pass a just budget and real revenue reforms. You can find out the state representative and senator who serves your county, and their home contact information, here.

 Come rally with us in Frankfort!

When the legislators come back to Frankfort, we want to greet them with a clear message that Kentucky deserves better.  KFTC and allies are planning a 5 pm rally at the Capitol on the first day of the Special Session, whenever it takes place.  We’ll have more details when the Session is called, but please plan to participate!