The Gateway Community College (GCC) Student Government Association (SGA) voted to collectively raise their voices against a proposed 5.23 percent tuition increase, endorsing a resolution urging the Board of Regents not to pass the measure and planning to join a rally at Central Connecticut State University on March 11.

SGA members said they hope Gateway students will fill several buses, traveling together to show support for preserving funding for the state’s 12 community colleges and four state universities and to voice opposition to the proposed tuition hike. 

Symphany Joseph, GCC SGA president, and Kyle Rogers, GCC’s SGA vice president, recently attended a Board of Regents’ Student Advisory Committee meeting in Hartford, where a student representative from Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) presented a resolution asking that the funding be maintained at the state universities. At that meeting the Student Advisory Committee voted to endorse Central’s resolution. The Student Advisory Committee members, representing all 17 ConnSCU schools, agreed they would ask their respective student governments to join in as well. 

Mario Fasano, a GCC student member of the DARC club, said students should join together to speak out against cuts and to clearly explain the ramifications of the cuts on their ability to attain a degree. “I love this school," he said. "Gateway Community College gave me my life back and I’m willing to do whatever it takes. This is forcing students to have to lean on student loans more. We need to speak out.”