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Under the banner of Occupy Education, students across the US have called for a national day of action today to protest rising tuition costs and severe cuts to higher education budgets. Students and faculty at public and private institutions including the City University of New York and Princeton will join education advocates to take a part in the mass demonstrations. The OccupyED.org website points to the relationship between high tuition fees and rising income inequality as a reason for today’s actions, stating, “[w]e refuse to pay for the crisis created by the 1%. We refuse to accept the dismantling of our schools and universities, while the banks and corporations make record profits.” Nationwide, public school students are seeing an average tuition or fee hike of 8 percent, while their counterparts at private universities are facing a 4.5 percent average increase. California has been a national hub of education activism, with protests ranging from marches to actions aligned with the Occupy movements that have resulted in police brutality against students. Since 2004 the cost of attending a California State University rose 191% and students attending University of California schools are paying 145% more than 8 years ago. Today’s national day of action will be continued in Sacramento and on many campuses in the state next week with 4 days of protest and walk-outs from March 5th – March 8th.

GUESTS: Joseph Silva, student at UCLA, involved in the Occupy UCLA movement, Nakia Brazier, student at Cal State LA involved with organizing today’s walkouts.

Visit www.occupyed.org for more information.