Metro State students, concerned about rising tuition costs and decreased legislative funding for higher education, are planning a march to the capitol next week to “remind legislators of their responsibility to higher education.”

The Student Government Assembly (SGA), together with the student governments of CCD and UCD, is coordinating the march being held on Monday, March 9. Participants will start gathering at the Tivoli Commons at 10:30 a.m. A brief rally will be held at 11:15 and the march will leave for the capitol at 11:30. The SGA has obtained permits for the march and will be escorted along its route by the Denver Police Department. SGA President Andrew Bateman said the march will reach the steps of the capitol just as the legislative session is finishing for the day.

In a letter that the SGA put in the mailbox of every Metro State professor, Bateman wrote, “The legislature’s attitude towards funding higher education at Metro in particular presents a threat to the affordability, accessibility and quality of the education our students receive.” Bateman asked professors to “consider having a relaxed attendance policy on the day of the march” in support of the students’ efforts.

Bateman said the SGA is publicizing the march through posters, flyers and yard signs across campus and an editorial and a full-page ad in The Metropolitan student newspaper.

“This is the time to do it (advocate for legislative funding for Metro State),” Bateman said. “The legislature is in the middle of the budget process.”

“And,” he added, “the outcomes of the budget process will directly affect students’ cost of education.”