More than 400 community college students rallied at the Capitol early Thursday before spending the day lobbying the Legislature on education issues near and dear to the nearly 1.2 million people enrolled in Florida's 2-year colleges.
Organized by the Florida Junior Community College Student Government Association, the students rallied to clarify the state articulation agreement process, extend tuition residency rates to undocumented aliens, lower textbook costs and push for more funding for community colleges.
Today is our day to represent approximately 1 million students across the state, said the organization's president, Christopher James Lamm. Who cares more about our issues than we do?
Scarlett Jordan, a student from Florida State College at Jacksonville, Kent Campus, spoke about articulation agreements. Under the agreements, students who graduate from any of the community colleges in Florida with an associate's degree are accepted into a state university.
Were asking for clarification, said Jordan, who noted that Florida universities often have no room for community college graduates because they accept so many out-of-state students. Being Florida residents, we should get in first, she said.
Mariajose Ortega, state vice president, addressed the issue of textbook expenses. Asking members of the audience how much they paid for books in the academic year and finding some students paid more than $500 a semester, Ortega said, We need to speak up about the prices.
When asked after her speech what the state could do about textbooks, especially considering college bookstores are private companies, Ortega said that taxes could be eliminated on these expenses.
Danyelle Carter, a district coordinator with the student government group and a student at Miami Dade College, and Quortney Richards, also attending Miami Dade, called for the state to grant residency to undocumented aliens so they could have the same tuition rates.
People think this is just a pathway to citizenship, Carter said. Its not.
The students also rallied against cuts to community college education in the state budget, including the gradual dismantling of the Bright Futures Scholarship budget.
Were rallying for them to stop cutting our budget, said Brian Emery, a student at Lake-Sumter Community College who serves as legislative staff director of the student organization.
Lamm noted that the state took in $70 million from sales taxes on textbooks, but the various proposed budgets had only $50 million going to community colleges.
Santiago Ossa, a student from Seminole State College of Florida and the elections chair of the Junior College group, said the Legislature needs to make community colleges a priority. Were the only colleges with room for growth, he said.
Theyre not fully funding our growth and now they want you to get better grades to fund your future, said Ossa, referring to proposed changes in the Bright Futures Scholarship.
The student association opposes proposed changes to the scholarship program, especially higher GPA standards and shortening the length of eligibility for the funds. A number of students rallying at the Capitol said it was increasingly impossible to finish a bachelor's degree program in four years.
The crowd of students cheered all of the speakers, including the only non-member to address them, Rep. Kurt Kelly, R-Ocala. Kelly talked about the need for leadership at the state level and welcomed the students to the Capitol.
Agreeing with Jordan that the community college population was more representative of Florida than the university population, Emery said, Everyone here, everyone we represented are Floridians.
