U. of Illinois Grad Employees Strike to Save Tuition Waivers
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More than 1,100 graduate student employees, who teach nearly a quarter of the undergraduate classes at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), went on strike today after the university refused to guarantee continuation of the teaching and grad assistants’ tuition waivers.
The members of the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO)/UIUC, an AFT affiliate, say the school’s refusal to include the waivers in bargaining agreement is a precursor to eliminating the tuition waivers that allow most teaching and grad assistants to afford a graduate education. In a statement, the GEO says:
The administration’s refusal to guarantee the continuation of its current tuition waiver practice not only means that the majority of graduate employees could be forced to pay thousands of dollars in additional tuition charges, but also indicates its plans to implement such a change.
By making graduate education untenable for all but the most affluent students, the administration is abandoning its responsibility to ensure access to the highest level of public education for all.
Labor College Approved to Offer Federal Student Financial Aid
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Students and perspective students at the National Labor College (NLC) have a new option to help pay their tuition and other education expenses. The NLC has been approved to offer federal financial aid to its students.
NLC President William Scheuerman says the availability of federal student loans and grants for NLC students will provide more working adults with
the opportunity to complete their college degree. Our college offers online programming, affordable, union subsidized tuition and low-cost credit assessment. Our goal is to remove the obstacles that working adults, many with full-time jobs and families, face when considering completing their college degrees.
The NLC will begin accepting applications for federal financial aid on its website (click here) July 6. Students must be admitted into the Bachelor of arts or Bachelor of Technical Professional Studies program and establish attendance in a minimum of six credit hours (half-time status) a semester to be eligible for a federal student loan. Students may be eligible for federal grants with less than half-time status.
Thousands of Graduate Assistants Join AFT
Strong-arm tactics by the Central Michigan University (CMU) administration—including a last-minute letter filled with anti-union rhetoric and innuendo—couldn’t sway graduate assistants from exercising their freedom to form a union and bargain for a better life.
On Monday and Tuesday, the CMU graduate assistants voted overwhelmingly to join the Graduate Student Union/AFT. The 450 teaching and administrative assistants teach, grade, tutor and perform administrative duties on the university’s Mt. Pleasant campus.
Also last week, graduate assistants at Florida State University (FSU) voted to join FSU Graduate Assistants United (FSU-GAU), a Florida Education Association/NEA/AFT affiliate. The new union will represent 2,800 graduate employees.
New Financial Help from Union Plus for College
Union Privilege’s Jennifer Wright Dorr sends us the latest on a new Union Plus College Savings Grant for working families.
With the economy in a seemingly endless free fall, the rising cost of a college education is putting working families in a bind. However, if you open a new college savings account, your union may be able to help.
The new Union Plus College Savings Grant offers $500 to qualified union members who open a new tax-free “529″ college savings or prepaid tuition plan by June 30, 2009. You are eligible for the $500 grant if you have had a Union Plus credit card, mortgage or UnionSecure insurance policy for one year and contribute at least $1,000 dollars in the account by Nov. 30, 2009.
600,000 Jobs Lost: How Bad Does It Have to Get for Republicans to Act?
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With today’s unemployment report showing nearly 600,000 jobs lost in January—worsening the U.S. unemployment rate from 7.2 percent to 7.6 percent—will obstructionist Republicans in Congress finally move the economic recovery bill?
From Bloomberg:
“Last month’s losses mark the first time since records began in 1939 that job cuts exceeded half a million in three consecutive months.”
While the official unemployment rate of 7.6 percent is really bad, the unofficial rate—which includes underemployed workers and those who have become too discouraged to look for work—is 13.8 percent. Some 21.5 million workers are either unemployed, working part time for economic reasons or dropping out of the labor force because they can’t find work.
