To Those of You Who Teach and To Those of You Who Desire a Degree:

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2010/03/04/natpkg.education.protests.early.cnn

I am unsure of how many of you were aware of what the significance of March 4th 2010. Many students and teachers protested due to pay cuts, furloughs, layoffs, increases in tuition and decreases in Financial Aid. Wanting a quality education is getting much harder to afford and the quality of the education will decrease rapidly. Many more students are being put in classes. The ration from teacher to students is ridiculous and ultimately can effects the way some people learn. Teachers are quickly rushing through topics in class. Many campuses across the country are suffering from a decrease in classes per week.

According to an article on UW System News.com, "$174 million in cuts will invariably hurt the education and service we provide to our 173,000 students, and our ability to help reinvigorate Wisconsin’s economy.”

Reading this sparked and began to fuel mixed emotions about college. In no way would this make me stop furthering my education but it concerned the quality of my education in the future to come. Applying for Financial Aid and Loans is a constant read, sign, send and receive chain of paperwork and often takes months. We only hope that when we receive that check it covers enough we can afford. With the economy not looking up anytime soon, and jobs decreasing in employment and hours how will our paychecks pay for these large increases in tuition?

I could only sit back on Thursdays classes and observe everyone's typical expressions and conversations. I did not hear any hallway chatter on the topic, nor did any of my professors take the time to speak of this current educational epidemic. Probably because they couldn't spare the time in their tight schedules. Whatever the case, our brilliant professors may lose jobs, and our eager sponge like students many not have enough cash flow to afford rising costs.

Can I get an Amen?