by Josue E.

The cost of higher education is no secret to most. Students, more than ever before, are bearing the brunt of covering their tuition.Pair that with extra costs and fees that students have to pay, such as for healthcare, registration, transportation, and similar fees that are not included in the cost of tuition, and you can see how students face an uphill battle in getting their degrees

Surely the state and federal government can provide some assistance to struggling students. Unfortunately, some politicians have decided to vote for measures that cut essential services to working students to tackle the deficit California is facing. The state has proposed to cut classes, cut resources for majors and departments, and lay off faculty and staff in the CSU and UC systems, as well as increase tuition for CSU students by 6% annually. 

 

SF Rising formulates a plan 

SF Rising knows that the cost of attending college is affecting students. That’s why we wanted to hear about their experiences and struggles and strategize on how to build a movement that puts working students’ demands front and center by putting pressure on our elected officials to address these issues and collaborate with us on how to push for change. 

 

Putting the theory into action 

Beginning in the 2025 spring semester, we set in motion a campaign that centered on student struggles and demands for a high-quality tuition-free education. Along with volunteers, we went out to various college and university campuses across the Bay to have in-depth empathetic conversations with students and actively listen to what struggles they are going through and what changes they would like to see. 

What we found from the 273 surveys that we conducted was that students not only have to deal with the threats and attacks from the state and federal government but also from their very own college administrations, such as ramping up protest censorship on campus, especially regarding Palestinian liberation. We found that students want to be more politically active to make change. The hunger from students for change was palpable, but they feel that the means and avenues to make that change are limited. 

The next stepping stone in this campaign involved our student fellowship program, in which SF Rising brings students from across the Bay to teach them the fundamentals of organizing and gives students a pathway to be a part of our movement. One of the fellows’ tasks was to continue surveying students on campuses using our method of ‘deep canvassing’ to connect with students about their struggles. With the amazing work of our fellows, we achieved over 600 survey responses! With even more information from students, we are able to analyze more clearly what issues students are facing and what steps we can take to rise up and fight back. 

 

 

Issues on and off campus  

.   

 

 

Tuition hikes and cuts to departments aren’t the only issues affecting students. 

 

Rent, groceries, inflation, and the cost of living are much more likely to impact working-class students of color, as oftentimes they are workers, caregivers, hustlers, and overall people that their families and communities rely on. Many of these issues that students are facing feel out of their control, and they realize that. One person alone cannot solve these issues, but as the saying goes, “united we bargain, divided we beg,” and that’s something students believe in. 

 

Students Influence and Political Involvement 

 

 

A vast majority of students believe that collective action and organizing gets the goods! But those values are hard to translate into action if there is no pipeline from being activists on campus to full-on organizers, and this is made difficult by the limited resources and structure that students usually have to seek out rather than being approached and informed about organizing. 

But we know that there is a lot of potential for a sustainable student movement, as many students that we talked to held these values of collective action, but had never even been a part of an organizing campaign. 

 

 

The pipeline from student to organizer is not always linear. With working students always on short notice on how to survive until the end of the month, the question of joining a long-term organizing movement becomes difficult. Questions that organizations are having are how do we keep these students engaged with us after we’ve had our conversation? Are our methods outdated? Should we try new ways to engage future organizers? Should we listen to new organizers’ concerns and proposals on how to engage students? Those are questions that SFR and other organizations are pondering, and it’s something that needs time, some trial and error, and refinement. One of the main goals of our organization is to achieve tuition-free college by 2040. Now that is something students overwhelmingly agree with. 

 

 

Organizations and institutions that keep track of what values and opinions students hold are reporting that students widely agree that college should not be a large expense in their lives. So the public support is there, but we have to transform it into public pressure and into signed legislation. Politicians are wary or outright refuse to support such a policy with rebuttals such as the cost or decreasing the value of the education or degree in the job market. But by not listening to their constituents and not advocating for such policies, politicians are shooting themselves in the foot by not treating college as an extension of K-12 public education and publicly investing in a job market that demands a more educated workforce.

 

 

Get involved 

Although 77% of our respondents are registered to vote, we still need to capture and inspire that remaining 23% of students. That’s why our SF Rising makes voting information and your voting rights accessible. When asked what actions students are willing to take to get involved, most students wanted to stay informed and talk to friends and family. That’s why we’re taking the organizing skills to them so that we can rise out of survival mode and get into organizing mode. We have a timeline and objectives we want to accomplish over this upcoming school year. In the Fall of 2025 we would like to: Base build, have organizing meetings & trainings on campus, build up a majority of students that can take action. For Spring 2025 we would like to: Launch an issue campaign that mounts pressure on our school administrators and local officials to alleviate the pain students are feeling or lose your job in the coming election & school year. Students are having to make tough decisions between surviving and an education. Paying more and getting less in return.  Now is the time to rise to action and join us in our movement for tuition-free, quality education. So if you are feeling the call to rise, join us in our student-led movement today!