Protestors Take Stand on College Education Opportunities
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take it to the next level. It is go time. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali Velshi.</s>ALI VELSHI, HOST: Tony, it's good to see you, as always. Thanks so much. As Tony said, I'm Ali Velshi, and I'm going to be with you today for the next two hours and this two hours every weekday. I'm going to take every important topic that we cover, and I'm going to break it down for you. I'm going to try and give you a level of detail that will help you make important decisions about your voting, your spending, your safety, your security. Boy, it's about your spending today. Here's what I've got on the run down. If you don't have a job, you might have bad credit. If you've got bad credit, you might not get a job. It is an awful catch-22. Your prospective employer can pry into your credit history and make a decision about you based on it. Now people across the nation are saying, "My credit is none of your business." Also on the rundown, you thought the Tea Party folks were angry before; you haven't seen anything yet. They are boiling mad over President Obama's harder line on health care. And they're warming up for a cross-country road trip. Plus, a 25-foot wave batters a cruise ship. What generated this monster, and why on earth would anyone steer right into it? Chad Myers investigates a killer on the high seas. All right. The top story right now. Walkouts, rallies, and protests are in the works across the country. College students and professors on more than 100 campuses are taking a stand against what they're calling an erosion in the quality of education and a limited access to a college education. Take a look at this map and see where these protests are, across the country. It shows dozens of states, those in blue, where demonstrations are planned for today. Most of these protests are focusing on cuts to state-funded colleges and universities, the ones that are supposed to be quality education but affordable. Here's a breakdown of what the students and professors are protesting. First of all budget cuts, which students say have resulted in classes being canceled and class waiting lists doubling or tripping, not able to get to classes that you want. Layoffs: that means fewer professors, fewer teaching assistants, fewer class options. Tuition increases, making a college education out of reach to many, many students, particularly those whose parents don't have an income because of this tough economy. This movement all started last fall, when California cut $1 billion -- a billion dollars -- from the state university's system, and that is a university system that is the pride of the nation. That resulted in -- get this -- 32 percent tuition increases there heading into the next school year. Now states across the country, crippled by fiscal crises and budget shortfalls -- we've all talked about that -- well, they're following California's lead. And because states across the country are strapped for cash, it now appears that state-funded colleges and universities, and their students, and their professors, and their communities are paying the price. Let's have this conversation with Kevin Carey. He's the policy director with Education Sector. It's a nonpartisan think tank that looks at education issues. He's joining me now. Thanks for joining me. I appreciate your time. You've worked in education. You've worked in state budgets. This is a really tough one, because these state colleges and tuitions are funded by their tuition and by -- and by state budgets. What is the answer to this solution [SIC]? It's spreading across the country. What can be done? What can these protests lead to?</s>KEVIN CAREY, POLICY DIRECTOR, EDUCATION SECTOR: Well, in a lot of states, and California is just the worst example, there -- there's been fiscal mismanagement for a long time. And now we're seeing the results. The people -- the politicians in California simply have not managed to balance budgets. Taxes are too low. Spending is too high. And really, students and parents are paying the price tag.</s>VELSHI: All right. So what -- that sounds like a much bigger problem than one that's just got to do with the universities and the colleges, and that's -- that's largely the case.</s>CAREY: Yes.</s>VELSHI: What can -- can something turn this ship around right now? Because what you've got is students who need an education, at a great time to get an education because the job market is not all that robust, having a hard time accessing that. What's the solution to this problem?</s>CAREY: Well, states are going to have to get their fiscal house in order. They've been relying on smoke-and-mirrors budget gimmicks for a long time in a number of states. They're simply unwilling to raise taxes. And in California the result has been letting what used to be, you know, the world's greatest public university system erode over time. So I -- you know, this is not a new thing.</s>VELSHI: Right.</s>CAREY: This has been going on for many years. It's just particularly bad now. And I think what we're seeing today is parents and students and professors saying, enough is enough.</s>VELSHI: All right. We put -- we asked our followers on Facebook to give us a single solution. Obviously, there's no single solution to this, but something that can be done right now. Kevin, stay right there. When we come back, we're going to continue this conversation, and we're going to talk about what can be done across the country to try and make college education more affordable. Stay with us. We're taking a break. We're coming back to cover today's day of action on education.