Protesting tuition hikes the Canadian way

U.S. college students aren’t the only ones getting poked by skyrocketing tuition…. U.S. college students aren’t the only ones getting poked by skyrocketing tuition. Students in Canada are feeling the pinch, too, but some of them are taking a proactive approach.

They are simply refusing to pay their tuition bills.

Last semester, about 2,000 of the approximately 21,000 students at Simon Fraser University participated in a tuition boycott in light of a 30 percent tuition increase. Hundreds of students at the University of Victoria have pledged not to pay tuition this semester, after seeing a 69 percent increase in their tuition in the past two years.

Kudos to the Canadians. It is refreshing to see college students, typically seen as champions of apathy, taking action to right a wrong. Tuition everywhere is skyrocketing, and most students simply groan and dig themselves ever deeper into debt. While it remains to be seen what will become of the students, their action – or rather, inaction – is inspiring.

It is worth taking into consideration that in Canada, the federal government subsidizes higher education. A college education costs considerably less up North than it does here. A press release from the SFU Student Society bemoaned the fact that tuition was approaching $4,000 a year. That is less than half of what a full-time, in-state student pays at Pitt.

Here at Pitt, we are no strangers to outrageous tuition hikes. Many Pitt students are so jaded that they barely bat an eye at the yearly increases. What if Pitt students were to stop lying down and taking it when the bill keeps climbing?

Some students have taken action by lobbying in Harrisburg. That is commendable, but not particularly drastic. The wheels of legislation grind slowly, and most students stop being students in a matter of years. Refusing to pay outrageous tuition bills is riskier and more proactive.

On such a large campus as this, it is an unrealistic idea. It would be tough to motivate a large enough chunk of the student body to make much of a difference. If all Pitt students did hold off paying their tuition until the last day of classes, though, they could leave a big hole in the school’s finances for a nice chunk of time, enough to send a message.

We could start small, just enough to get a taste for civil disobedience. The Book Center has been selling books for a small fortune for years, then buying them back at insultingly low prices. Why not refuse to shop there?