Hundreds Of Students Swarm State House For Higher Education Day
[gtxvideo vid=”Ja6ztAzB” playlist=”” pid=”XiOflQdH” thumb=”http://player.gtxcel.com/thumbs/Ja6ztAzB.jpg” vtitle=”Higher Education Day at Alabama State House”]
Students came from college and universities all over the state to the capital to have their voices heard at higher education.
It’s one of the biggest rallies lawmakers see each year.
“It’s very very important. I know us personally, we need more funding. The funding we have has allowed us to expand our programs. We’ve been able to add a integrated marketing and communications major at the university of west alabama,” said Katie Milligan.
And students like Milligan want to see those programs grow even more.
Governor Robert Bentley wants the same thing.
He told the students how important a college education is not only for them, but the state as a whole.
“Well we actually in our budget increased it 3.5 percent. I believe that we should continue to increase our funding to higher education. It is so important as far as advanced manufacturing, advanced job in this state,” said Bentley.
Gordon Stone is the executive director of the Higher Education partnership.
He says even though universities and colleges saw an increase in funding last year, it’s not quite one third of the education budget like they want.
“In 2008 we were making a lot of progress when the economy was really booming. Then the economy went down, but it’s creeping back up. That’s what we heard the governor talk about today, the need to continue to make those kind of steps. Yes it’s very important to us to reach that 1/3 but it’s really critical that we make progress towards that 1/3 as we move through this session,” said Stone.
