For many, a fight to the finish

Jordan Klaverweiden isn't sure how much longer he can afford to call himself a Terp — and he's not the only one.

The junior geographic information systems major recently took out a second loan just to make it through this semester. His parents — who have faced pay cuts and taken on second jobs — cashed out their retirement funds just to pay for his two years at a community college before he transferred to this university in the fall. Klaverweiden also works 20 to 25 hours a week as a merchandiser with Kellogg Company to pay for rent and gas. At the same time, his twin brother, Justin, is working just as hard to pay his way through school at Towson University.

Klaverweiden is just one of many students struggling to pay to attend this university. With a proposed 3 percent tuition increase likely to pass in the General Assembly this legislative session, several said they are worried how this tuition hike — the third in three years — will affect their chances of graduating.

"My dad had to take a 12 percent pay cut, and I'm barely making it," Klaverweiden said. "It's hard being a twin and having to work so hard and seeing my brother work and my parents work ... With prices going up everywhere and having all of that, we have to make up for that just to survive."

To advocate for the lowest tuition increase possible in Annapolis, Student Government Association leaders gathered about 40 testimonies from students struggling financially at this university last semester. SGA President Kaiyi Xie and Director of Governmental Affairs Zach Cohen quoted from these testimonies when they spoke before legislators of the House Appropriation Committee's subcommittee on education and economic development last week.

"I am being supported by my single dad. Earlier this year, he was laid off from a job he held for eight years," one testimony reads. "Despite how much we have cut back, all our savings have used to pay the necessary bills. I've had to watch as the stress brought my dad to be hospitalized. I am running out of options other than dropping out of college."

Xie said it is important for legislators to hear these stories and understand the impact a tuition increase would have on students.

"It puts a personal face to what state senators are doing with their budget. It's one thing to look at the numbers and another thing to look at what the numbers represent," Xie said.

Sen. Jim Rosapepe (D-Anne Arundel, Prince George's) said although he has not yet received any messages from concerned students regarding this issue, he is very much aware of their struggles. He noted Gov. Martin O'Malley had worked to ease some of the burden by freezing tuition for four years and has included increases for financial aid in his proposed budget.

However, Rosapepe recognized many students do not qualify for the financial aid services currently available.

"Obviously, tuition at the University of Maryland in College Park got much too high under [former] Gov. [Bob] Ehrlich," Rosapepe said. "I absolutely understand the concerns from students in low-income families."

Junior communication major Sydney Airey — who is the first in her family to go to college — was shocked when she learned she did not qualify for financial aid. Like Klaverweiden, Airey spent her first two years at a community college before transferring to the university she "always wanted." Her single mother, a correctional officer in state prisons, earns less than $35,000 a year, and Airey has had to work part-time since age 14 to help make ends meet.

Airey said she has taken out nearly $20,000 worth of loans to pay for her tuition and books, and she works four to five days a week at R.J. Bentley's to pay for groceries and car insurance.

"It's really stressful sometimes," Airey said. "There are people at my job who don't really need their jobs. Their parents pay their tuition, so they just do it for fun or because they're bored. But there are students like me who support themselves."

Sophomore journalism major Jasmine Cruz — a New Jersey resident paying more than $25,000 a semester for out-of-state tuition — said the financial strain is intensified by the projected cost increases for dining and room and board on the campus. Cruz, who maintains a 4.0 GPA while staying active as a Residence Hall Association senator and resident assistant for Oakland Hall, said she recently took out a loan so her single father would no longer need to take money out of his retirement fund to pay for her tuition.

However, she said she is concerned these measures will not be enough for her to stay at her "dream school."

"I don't want to think that I might have to leave the university not because I'm not doing well, but because I can't afford it," Cruz said.

Students said they hope their stories will be considered when the state legislators sit down to consider the budget this spring.

"There are a lot of students who aren't represented correctly," Klaverweiden said. "I know numerous other people who are taking out student loans and can barely do it in community college. They are in my same situation."

villanueva@umdbk.com