962 East 180st

Bronx, NY 10460

November 9, 2014

Mr. Jose Serrano

Congressman

1231 Lafayette Ave, 4th Floor

Bronx, NY 10474

Dear Mr. Serrano:

I’m writing to you asking for your help, on July 2011 the state Legislature and Governor Andrew Cuomo enacted a law that allows the public universities to raise tuition by $300 a year for five years. And of course the Board of Trustees Executive Committee voted to approve a $300 tuition hike. It’s not fair for CUNY students to pay even more money to attend school, tuition been on the rise at 22% since 2009.  The purpose of the tuition rise is to raise $50 million for CUNY.  They hope more revenue will reduce high class sizes, save school programs and have CUNY to hire more full-time faculty.

This tuition increase goes against everything that CUNY stands for; the purpose of CUNY is to provide higher education accessible for New York residents for a low cost. 54 percent of its student body lives in a household with an income of less than $30,000 a year; 74 percent are people of color; and 47 percent work full or part-time in addition to attending school. Even though many of the students receive financial aid, like TAP there are those who need the aid but don’t qualify. And it will hit them the hardest, so what I’m asking is for the state to come up with additional aid; here is why you should assist.

You have a bunch of students from low class income who are willing to work hard to further their education, now imagine that opportunity is taken away from them because of tuition rise. That means more people will apply for food stamps and welfare because it’s already hard to find a job without a college degree.

Providing aid to college students who are in need will help you as well when it comes to reelection, you will have more young votes to help keep your seat in the house. And you will have the support of many communities in New York, think about it.

Sincerely,

Erica Jenkins