(MADISON) The non-profit College Board says nationally, tuition at public four-year colleges has almost doubled over the last 20 years. Yesterday students at UW-Madison joined a country-wide effort asking Congress to make college more affordable.
Volunteers with the Student Wisconsin Education Association petitioned for Congress to provide more funding for Pell Grants, which give need-based aid to low-income students, and for affordable student loans. Co-president Heather Feltz says her group is made up of future teachers, whose salaries are often not enough to pay back thousands of dollars in college loans.
â??Iâ??ve got a roommate and she gets loans every year and she’s going to be $40,000 in debt the day that she graduates,â? says Feltz. â??And if you don’t have a job that pays a lot then you struggle.” (Third item.)