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Presenting the Class of 20?? GraduDEBTs!

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WHAT ABOUT THE FIRST TRILLION?

Presenting the Class of 20?? GraduDEBTS: Rally for Higher Education

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[Purchase, NY]--On Wednesday, April 16th, SUNY Purchase College students, faculty, and staff will rally for access to affordable, quality higher education and demonstrate the massive, often life-crippling student loan debt that burdens students long after their graduation date. There will be a brief campus-wide procession followed by a mock graduation ceremony.


Access to affordable, quality higher education is under attack. Here in New York, more than 300,000 students rely on TAP (Tuition Assistance Program) in order to attend college, yet the program has seen very few updates in its 40 years: TAP funding has flat-lined while tuition and other costs associated with attaining a college degree have skyrocketed. For the first time last year, tuition at SUNY and CUNY outpaced that of the maximum TAP award – further straining our universities who have to foot-the-bill and restricting aid to the students who need it. On top of that, TAP is still not available to undocumented youth, graduate students, and many more who need it. The outdated program also limits how much homeless youth are able to access. Nationwide the trends of public disinvestment in higher education continue as student loan debt throughout the US has already left the 1 trillion dollar mark in the dust. That’s why with the 2014 state elections around the corner, students, faculty, and staff are working to make access to an affordable higher education a hot-button election issue.

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Who:      SUNY Purchase college students, faculty, and staff ; NYPIRG (the New York Public Interest Research Group); OAPIA (Organization of African Peoples in the Americas); Purchase College Political Science Board of Study; PUSH Ideas Into Action; PSGA (Purchase Student Government Association); Sociology Club at Purchase College; UUP (Union of University Professions)


What:     Mock Graduation Ceremony and rally for higher education affordability


Where:   The Clock Tower (between the Library and the Student Services Building)

                 SUNY Purchase College

                 735 Anderson Hill Road

                 Purchase, NY 10577


When:     Wednesday, April 16th at 5:00pm


Contact:  Alex Wojcik, 914-251-6986 (office), 631-335-2402 (cell)


Visuals:  Mock graduation ceremony; graduation caps depicting students’ projected loan debt; props portraying student loan debt including ball-and-chains

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