Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Date: Tuesday, 15 Dec 1992 16:58:10 CST
From: <U38026@uicvm.uic.edu>
Newsgroups: uic.org.the-student,misc.education
Subject: Who Says There is NO Money!

Editorial

Who Says There Is No Money?

In the last 2 months we have talked with hundreds and hundreds of
students about the problems of skyrocketing tuition and curriculum
cutbacks at UIC.  While students unanimously want to find solutions to
these problems, some ask:  <169>Is there really anything we can do <197>
I mean, with the economy in recession and so forth, where else can the
money come from except through tuition increases?<170>

Our answer is that the problem is <B>not<D> a lack of money.  The
problem is that the people who control the purse-strings <197> the
government, as well as the university administration <197> have plenty
of money but choose <B>not<D> to spend it on providing affordable
education or meeting the instructional needs of students.

Let us begin by looking at how the President and Congress spend the vast
sums at their disposal.  This year, the federal government will spend
more than $1.2 trillion.  But only $8 billion (<B>or less than 1%<D>)
will go to the hundreds of public universities across the country.  Even
though the taxes paid by working people account for nearly 90% of the
government's revenues, the politicians in Washington, D.C. do not think
that the people have <B>the right<D> to affordable university education.
Instead, the government chooses to spend nearly $300 billion on the
military.  Hundreds of billions more are spent on interest payments to
the Wall Street bankers and the bail-out of the S&L thieves.  In fact
the federal government places such a low priority on education for the
people that it provides more funds to private universities than it does
to public universities.  The amount of money spent by the federal
government on the election campaigns of Bush and Clinton is more than
enough to provide <B>completely free education for every student
currently enrolled in public universities throughout the state of
Illinois.<D> By trimming the military budget as little as 5%, the
government could pay the entire tuition of everyone enrolled in public
colleges all across the country.

And while the federal government provides almost no financial support
for public universities, the Illinois state government has been cutting
back its funds for education.  Even while imposing a 10% income tax
surcharge <197> allegedly earmarked for university education <197> on
Illinois residents, the state has cut the percentage of its budget
allocated for higher education by 25% over the last several years.

Still this is not the whole story.  Even without federal support and
declining state support, the UIC administration has more than enough
money to dramatically lower tuition if they chose to.  UIC's budget for
the current fiscal year totals more than $700 million.  Yet only $135
million (less than 20% of the total budget) is allocated for
instruction.  (see <MI>Budget Summary for Operations, FY 1992-93,
University of Illinois<D>).

Thus, every year when Ikenberry and Stukel insist on the
<169>necessity<170> to raise tuition, they are choosing to spend this
money on things other than the instructional needs of students.  For
example, every year UIC spends tens of millions underwriting corporate
research (UIC spends a higher percentage of its internal funds for
research than any public or private university in the country other than
Northwestern University).  Millions more are being spent to buy up all
the property in the surrounding neighborhood.



Thus it is easy to see that there is more than enough money
available to <B>dramatically lower tuition at UIC.<D>

We say that college education is a right which should be guaranteed to
everyone.  We say that the government should spend the money it collects
from taxing the people in order to guarantee the needs and rights of the
people, including the right to education.  We say that the UIC
administration should primarily devote its resources to meeting the
instructional needs of the students, <B>at a reasonable cost<D>, instead
of spending our tax and tuition dollars on corporate research or land
speculation.

No, the problem is not a lack of money but who controls the purse-strings.  For
generations and generations, education was reserved solely for the sons of the
wealthy.  Schools like UIC were only built as a result of repeated mass
struggles waged by the
working people who demanded that their daughters and sons also have access to
education.  But as the mass struggles of the 1960's and '70's receded, the
government has worked steadily, year by year, to undermine the right of the
people to affordable
university education by raising tuition and allocating less and less of the
government's resources to meeting the needs of the people.

Each year the door to higher education is closed to more and more of the
working people and oppressed nationalities.  <B>But this situation can
be changed.<D> The resources exist to provide free education for
everyone.

 The real question is a question of priorities and political
power.  As long as the rich control the government and set the agenda
for society, they will spend as little as possible on education and
the other needs of the people.  The solution is for the working class
and broad masses of people to come out in protest and struggle to
demand our right to higher education.  By exerting our power of numbers,
in an organized and sustained way, we can win this right.

If you have any questions, comments, or like sources of information send
ME E-MAIL AT U38026@UICVM.UIC.EDU. ALSO CHECK OUT OUR NEWSGROUP AT
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO (UIC.ORG.THE-STUDENT).
"An affordable and qualitative education is a right, not a privilege."

Newsgroups: misc.education,alt.discrimination,soc.culture.african.american,soc.women