By
Leslie Baer
By now every student at Buffalo State College
knows about the recent SUNY budget cuts. Tuition has been
increased, and many students show up for their first day
of class to find that their class no longer exists. These
budget cuts are affecting us all in one way or another.
One program on campus that is being affected by these cuts
is the Equal Opportunity Program, or EOP.
EOP provides a number of services to BSC students, such
as:
- Aid to students who are not financially
able to pay their tuition (although it is separate from
regular financial aid programs)
- An extensive number of tutoring services.
EOP helps students who would otherwise not even attend
college to go to college, graduate, and make something
of themselves afterwards. To learn more about the EOP
program, go to www.buffalostate.edu/~eop/index.html
EOP may face a 50 percent cut in funding.
This will almost definitely result in a loss of many of the
programs that EOP brings to BSC students. It will also result
in a significant drop in students who are part of the EOP
program, which may mean fewer students attending BSC altogether.
“The proposed budget cuts will affect EOP students aid
allotment,” says Yanick Jenkins, EOP Interim Director.
“They will have to increase loans to meet their living
expenses.”
Many students fear that the loss of EOP’s financial
benefits, along with the tuition hike, will force them to
have no choice but to drop out of college. Many of these EOP
students were present at NYPIRG’s candlelight vigil
in opposition to the tuition hikes. That turnout represented
the seriousness of the situation, and the fact that it is
really affecting BSC students.
“It’s our students who will be hit the hardest
since they represent the neediest of the population,”
said Jenkins. |
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