"Vote No" for UDC Tuition Increase

We are urging you to vote "No" to the increase in student tuition on February 11, 2009.

President, Dr. Allen Sessoms is proposing a 100\% tuition increase for University of the District of Columbia students.

We do not support this increase as proposed because of the following reasons.

1) UDC students, like many in our nation, are facing this unprecedented financial and economic crisis head-on. The United States is in unchartered territory and to increase tuition while students are facing job losses, home foreclosures and other devastating losses, we must say No to an increase of this magnitude.

2) Washington Metropolitan area universities consistently raise tuition anywhere from 2\% - 6\%. Dr. Sessoms is proposing a full $100 increase for students who attend the university. This will be a financial and economic shock that will ripple through families, international students, those who barely can afford the current tuition and put education out of reach for those who cannot afford it. So, we say No to the current proposal.

3) Student fees have consistently been mismanaged and abused. The student fee that students have paid over the past two years is gone, lost and squandered by frivolous and unaccountable record keeping and spending. The increased activity fee has yet to reach the Student Government Association. Science laboratories and other facilities remain stagnant in maintenance and repair. Until there is just cause to tax the students with an increase, the administration must show their responsibility with what they already have. We will no longer accept this lack of accounting controls and unilateral approach to governing student fees and tuition. We say, No.

4) Dr. Sessoms needs to strategically approach the city and federal government for additional funding as well as alumni and corporate entities who have a vested interest in the success of the university. The University has seen little to no additional funding in the past 10 15 years from the city government, but salaries and administrative dollars have increased at alarming rates. Dr. Sessoms mentioned that he is approaching the government for funding from the stimulus package currently on Capitol Hill, but that funding is not a promise for funding, only a request. Taxing the students should be the last alternative and that alternative should not be a 100\% increase at any given time.

We, the students at the University of the District of Columbia, will not accept this tuition increase as proposed. This tuition increase is unreasonable and does not serve the best interest of the students at this time.