Fairfax NAACP Urges George Mason University To Freeze Tuition

FAIRFAX, VA — The Fairfax NAACP is calling on George Mason University to reverse its approved tuition increase and instead implement a tuition freeze for the 2020-2021 school year. The group also is urging GMU to provide greater financial aid for students in need.

Other Virginia state universities have already committed to freezing tuition for the 2020-2021 school year, Fairfax NAACP noted. These schools include Virginia State University, Old Dominion University, Radford University, Virginia Tech, Tidewater Community College, William & Mary, James Madison University, and Christopher Newport University.

"It is surprising that GMU decided to not follow the leadership of its sister universities at such a challenging time," the Fairfax NAACP Young Adult Committee wrote Tuesday in his letter to GMU President Gregory Washington, who took over as head of the university on July 1.

Fairfax NAACP is requesting a virtual meeting be held with the Fairfax NAACP Young Adult Committee, the George Mason University NAACP, and a representative from the GMU Board of Visitors and school administration.

Almost 20 other student organizations at GMU co-signed Tuesday's letter and are supporting a tuition freeze are the Black Student Alliance, Muslim Students Association, Price Alliance, Filipino Cultural Association and Mason DREAMer’s. The Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights and the Legal Aid Justice Center are among community groups supporting a tuition freeze.

The school’s Board of Visitors voted 15-1 in late May to adopt a new $1.18 billion budget that includes a $450 tuition hike for in-state and out-of-state students.

The tuition increase was lower than what was originally proposed before the coronavirus pandemic hit. The board said it lowered the increase after holding listening sessions with students to hear about their economic situations.

“Like everyone, our students are feeling the impact of this crisis and we want to do everything in our power to help them,” GMU Rector Tom Davis said in a statement at the time. “Our goal is to seek more resources for students so they can continue their education and complete their degrees in the most timely manner.”

While the university stated the goal of the tuition increase was to serve students and keep them on track to graduate, the increase "could have the opposite effect and hinder students from continuing their education due to further financial strain during a time where the U.S. is seeing its highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression," the Fairfax NAACP Young Adult Committee wrote in his letter to Washington.

The tuition increase "does not show a high regard for vulnerable students’ financial situations," said the Fairfax NAACP Young Adult Committee, who called on GMU to create a student advisory council to provide student input on the GMU budget.

GMU had not responded to a request for comment on the letter from Fairfax NAACP at the time this article was published.

GMU has received almost $10.5 million in funding from the CARES Act for student aid. "It appears that GMU expects for students to turn around and utilize their awarded funds to cover the tuition increase," the Fairfax NAACP Young Adult Committee wrote.

Fairfax NAACP also called for a separate discretionary fund to be applied specifically to aid for students of color who take on more debt to obtain higher education and disproportionately struggle during repayment. In fact, African American borrowers default at five times the rate of their white peers, the group said.

"When this is coupled with the fact COVID-19 has more than tripled the unemployment in Virginia, and African Americans are disproportionately represented within the unemployment rates, the need to assist them financially and not further burden them with debt is essential to assisting their financial independence while a student at George Mason University, and once they graduate," the group said.

About a month ago, an online petition was started with the goal of getting GMU to reverse its planned tuition increase. Almost 2,600 people have signed the petition.

CORRECTION: The July 28 letter to George Mason University President Gregory Washington was authored by the Fairfax NAACP Young Adult Committee. The article has been changed to reflect the correct author of the letter.