The Changing Landscape of Student Protest in Higher Education

Republicans came within striking distance of making graduate school much more expensive for more than 140,000 students who receive tuition waivers. The provision, which only passed in the House version of the tax bill, sparked a nationally coordinated opposition campaign that accomplished its goals amidst the bigger stories this month. The provision has been scrapped, but the new coalitions that formed in response will likely grow as bigger battles over student debt and other issues affecting college-goers are still to come.

American students have been struggling with steadily rising tuition and record-high debt for some time. Republicans are increasingly showing a willingness to on higher-education institutions and on universities, to the point that some journalists and activists have accused them of.” The GOP’s motivations for this are still a . Regardless of the reason, though, party leaders’ confidence in this strategy also assumes that American students are not politically organized enough to stop them.