A survey conducted by The 

Michigan Daily last month found 
74 percent of student respondents 
at the University of Michigan 
think tuition is too high, and 54 
percent believe the University 
doesn’t 
give 
out 
enough 

scholarship money.

LSA junior Kim Truong, a 

second-generation immigrant and 
first-generation college student, 
said despite receiving a full need-
based scholarship, she believes 
tuition at the University is too 
high.

“From my perspective, I think 

it’s very high-priced,” Truong said. 
“Although, I have the privilege of 
a full-ride scholarship — a need-
based scholarship — which covers 
my tuition and housing, (without 
it) I definitely wouldn’t have been 
able to bear the costs at all. I think 

(the 
University) 
should 
start 

looking at structural changes to 
their policies. They’re doing well 
in the grand scheme of things, but 
they should try to fix these issues.”

Rising Tuition
Last June, the Board of Regents 

approved a 3.9-percent tuition 
increase for in-state students and 
a 4.4-percent increase for out-of-
state students for the fiscal year 
of 2017. This translates to in-state 
students paying $546 more per 
year and out-of-state students to 
paying $1,934 more per year.

At that time, several regents 

opposed the tuition increase, as 
they believed it failed to address 
the overarching issue of rising 
higher-education costs. One vocal 
critic at the time was Regent 
Andrea Fischer Newman (R), who 
said the increase in financial aid 
did not offset the overall rising 
cost of higher education.

“Whether it comes from the 

University of Michigan’s general 

fund or from the government, 
more financial aid does not solve 
the underlying problem of rising 
college costs,” she said. “It only 
makes the University of Michigan 
less affordable, especially for 
middle-class students and their 
families, who are least likely to 
qualify for financial aid.”

Pamela 
Fowler, 
executive 

director of the Office of Financial 
Aid, said there is a proportionate 
amount of aid given to students, 
but recognized it does not cover 
the cost of books, housing and 
other expenses.

“In the 20 years I have been 

here, for every chance there was 
an increase in tuition students 
on financial aid got an increase 
in their need-based grant equal 

to the increase in tuition,” Fowler 
said. “So they were held harmless 
on the tuition increase. Now that 
doesn’t mean they were held 
harmless on everything else — 
you have to pay for books, housing 
and you have other expenses.”

Last school year, the University 

also gave out the most financial 
aid in the state of Michigan, 
totaling 
$907,915,059 
for 
the 

2015-16 school year, according 
to the Office of Financial Aid all-
aid chart Fowler provided. More 
specifically, $32,033,083 of it 
was need-based, $20,173,919 was 
merit-based and $15,691,139 was 
loans.

“We give out more financial 

aid than anybody in the state, 
probably more than anybody in 

the Midwest,” Fowler said. “But I 
can’t make it free for everybody.”

Truong, who is also on the 

executive board of the First 
Generation 
College 
Student 

Group, noted tuition could be 
cheaper if students were not 
required to pay for services not 
all use, like intramural building 
renovations, which cost students 
$130 a year.

“Little things like that add up,” 

Truong said. “It’s the difference 
between 
having 
the 
service 

available for you, and you not 
going to it because you don’t want 
to pay for it.”

Fowler said despite increasing 

what students have to pay, many 
of the smaller costs are necessary 
for giving students the services 

and resources they want.

“This is what students want,” 

Fowler said. “And now somebody 
who couldn’t pay for tuition in the 
first place now has to pay an extra 
$130 because this is what students 
want. So you have to think about 
these things. When you expect 
more and demand more, someone 
has to pay for it.”

Sociology Prof. Dwight Lang, 

who 
also 
advises 
the 
First 

Generation 
Student 
Group, 

doesn’t expect tuition to go down 
in the future without a resurgence 
in the economy and higher taxes to 
support education. 

More than 100 people marched 

Wednesday afternoon through 
downtown Ann Arbor as part of 
the International Women’s Strike, 
one of many demonstrations 
occurring throughout the day 
locally and nationwide. The strike 
encouraged women to take the 
day off from work and buy only 
from female- or minority-owned 
businesses.

Though similar in nature, the 

International 
Women’s 
Strike 

is not affiliated with the “A Day 
Without a Woman” event, which 
was organized by the Women’s 
March on Washington.

Liz Ratzloff, an organizer of 

the strike in Ann Arbor, spoke 
about the need for sustained 
activism, stating the current 
political moment was an ideal 
time to create new activists.

“The Women’s March was a 

pretty incredible event,” she said. 
“Millions of people marched 
around the country and around 
the world, so this has been a great 
opportunity to have sustained 
involvement and to not just have 
that be a one-time event. There 
are a ton of people who are getting 
involved, who haven’t ever been 
involved in activism or felt a strong 
need to resist in the past, and this 
is just another opportunity for 
that.”

Though the Women’s March, 

an activist group that grew out of 
the worldwide marches protesting 
President Trump’s inauguration, 

received 
flak 
for 
being 

exclusionary of trans women, the 
International 
Women’s 
Strike 

explicitly included trans women 
in its platform.

Ratzloff lauded the inclusion 

of the International Women’s 
Strike, emphasizing it was just 
as important to advocate on 
issues that she wasn’t personally 
affected by.

“First of all, trans women 

are women,” she said. “And 
trans women also experience 
an increased rate of violence 
and discrimination, and part of 
solidarity is standing up for issues 
that affect all of us. Injustice 
somewhere 
is 
an 
injustice 

everywhere.”

LSA junior Lakyrra Magee said 

every movement struggles with 
inclusion, and she criticized the 
signs and attire of some protesters 

in attendance.

“When I was first invited 

to speak at this event, I was 
hesitant,” Magee said. “As a queer 
Black woman, it is easy to end up 
being the diversity ticket for white 
activism. While we see an attempt 
with inclusivity in the platform, 
popular slogans and rhetoric 
express the severe need for better 
understanding of how we fight for 
all women. Your pussy hats are 
not inclusive to all women.”

Rackham 
student 
Rachel 

Miller, a member of the Graduate 
Employees’ 
Organization, 

spoke 
about 
the 
importance 

of 
unionization, 
specifically 

referencing 
the 
University 

President 
Mark 
Schlissel’s 

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 
plan and the fact that all of the 
work necessary for the plan’s 
success is voluntary. GEO is 

currently 
bargaining 
a 
new 

contract with the University.

“One of the key components 

of our platform, something our 
membership has demanded and 
created, is University support 
and compensation for diversity 
labor, the kind of work that has 
long been unrecognized and 
undervalued, and ends up falling 
on the shoulders of those it is 
intended to benefit,” she said.

After several other women 

spoke to the crowd at Liberty 
Plaza, organizers led a march 
through downtown with chants 
of “No justice, no peace,” and 
“the people united can never be 
divided,” momentarily blocking 
traffic on some streets. Ann Arbor 
Police Department officers were 
also present, directing both traffic 
and protesters away from each 
other.

On Feb. 1, the Office of National 

Scholarships 
and 
Fellowships 

opened as a centralized office to 
provide information and advising 
on application processes for all 
University of Michigan students 
interested 
in 
postgraduate 

fellowship opportunities.

The office’s staff now provides 

information about opportunities 
such as the Rhodes Scholarship 
to Oxford University, the Truman 
Scholarship for graduate studies 
with a public service focus and the 
Marshall Scholarship for graduate 
studies in the United Kingdom. 
The staff will also provide advising 
through the application process, 
including 
putting 
students 
in 

contact with faculty who have won 
these scholarships in the past.

ONSF Director Henry Dyson 

said this office is a resource many 
of the University’s peer institutions 
already provide their students.

“This is something that most 

other universities have, and we 
didn’t have a central office that 
was doing it,” he said. “We had at 
that time as many as 10 different 
offices that were doing different 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Thursday, March 9, 2017

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 41
©2016 The Michigan Daily

N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

CL A S S I F I E DS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Students work 
to navigate costs 
of tuition, look to 
‘U’ for assistance

GRANT HARDY/Daily

Close to 75 percent of students think tuition 
is too high, struggle to secure adequate aid

KEVIN BIGLIN
Daily Staff Reporter

See OFFICE, Page 2A

New office 
to provide 
increased 
aid options

ACADEMICS

In first month, Office of 
National Scholarships, 
Fellowships successful

EMILY MIILLER
Daily Staff Reporter

ANDREW HIYAMA, DAILY STAFF REPORTER/Daily

More than 100 people march through downtown Ann Arbor Wednesday afternoon to participate in the International 
Women’s Strike.

Local Women’s Day protest draws over
one hundred in support of female rights

Students, community members partake in International Women’s Strike

ANDREW HIYAMA

Daily Staff Reporter

michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit

Close to 40 people filed into 

the Matthaei Botanical Gardens 
Auditorium Wednesday evening 
for a presentation on the effects 
deer have had on the parks of Ann 
Arbor, and in turn, the deer cull’s 
impact on local populations. The 
talk was hosted by Wild Ones, an 
organization aiming to protect 
native species of plants and 
animals.

The deer cull has been a 

controversial topic in Ann Arbor, 
with calls for the University of 
Michigan to cease its support of 
the cull, and for the city to stop 
funding the program entirely.

Presenter 
Jacqueline 

Courteau, 
a 
professional 

biologist who has studied the 
local 
environment 
for 
the 

past 20 years, acknowledged 
the 
program 
comes 
with 

considerable emotional baggage, 
and proceeded to outline policy 
and management implications 
from her research.

Botanical
Gardens 
hosts talk 
about cull 

CITY

Meeting analyzes effects 
of latest Ann Arbor deer 
cull, research behind it

NIKOLA JAKSIC
Daily Staff Reporter

ART as a
SOCIALGESTURE

b-side

The Daily Arts writers 

looked into the ways art is 

being utilized by local artists 
and organizations to benefit 

communities 

» B-section

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

