UNCG is pursuing a corporate business model that is not financially or ethically sustainable because it demands that students finance campus expansion, athletics, and elite amenities we do not want or use at the expense of our educations. As fees have increased, faculty and courses have been cut, job prospects have declined, and lower-income students have been forced to drop out of college or face a life of debt. 60% of male students on government loans leave UNCG with debt, but without a degree.
Each UNCG student currently pays $435 per year in “facilities fees” to build a luxurious, $91 million, 216,000-square-foot, “state-of-the-art” student recreation center in the Glenwood neighborhood. UNCG has not said how it will pay the enormous costs to operate, maintain, and staff the rec center once it is built—students or taxpayers?
In the name of UNCG students, the university has expanded into the historical, diverse, working-class neighborhood of Glenwood, using unethical practices, displacing residents, destroying houses and trees, and disrupting neighborhood character. Please continue reading and sign the petition.
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Update: In the comments below, Roch leaves a link to the following article, Many Young Americans Blame Colleges For Rising Student Debt:
"People are finally realizing that the college arms race must stop if we are ever going to rein in costs," Segal said.
Segal noted that George Washington University, for instance, is currently building a $130 million "super dorm" on campus, and students at the University of Pennsylvania are able to dine at a juice bar after hitting up the golf simulator at one of the campus fitness centers. This phenomena of spending resources on extravagant secondary amenities isn't limited to private schools, either: Iowa State University recently spent $46.2 million renovating one of two campus gyms, resulting in a facility equipped with rock walls and hot tubs, while the University of California-Davis offers swimming pools in some residence halls.
"Too many colleges are acting in the interest of building prestige over providing an affordable pathway to higher learning for their students," Segal said."
