ORONO, Maine — A handful of University of Maine students staged a demonstration Wednesday in front of Fogler Library to demand tuition-free public college, elimination of all student debt and a $15 minimum wage for student workers on campus.
“We are here to protest the increasing cost of education,” UMaine sophomore Leah Turlo, a member of the group Maine Student Action, said. “Yes, UMaine has a [tuition] freeze right now, but it’s still really expensive.”
Turlo said she has at least $20,000 in student debt hanging over her head, and she’s only halfway through college.
The UMaine students were taking part in the national Million Student March, scheduled to take place at campuses across the nation on Wednesday. The online organization consists of high school and college students, campus workers, recent graduates, parents and grandparents united in seeking the three goals, according to its website.
About 14 young people participated in the Orono march, and three attended one held at Southern Maine Community College.
Carissa Tinker, Maine Student Action organizer and student at the School for International Training Graduate Institute in Vermont, said the new group she formed a few months ago is a “way to organize students around progressive issues.”
The group has a Facebook page, with Tinker listed as the organizer, but nothing else. Tinker is originally from Bar Harbor.
Graduating students in Maine face an average debt load of $29,352, a news release from the group states. The group wants student workers on campus to get paid $15 per hour.
“They’re getting paid $7.50 an hour,” Turlo said of some current student employees.
UMaine spokeswoman Margaret Nagle confirmed the university does match the state’s minimum wage, according to the student employment page on the university’s website. Nagle declined to comment on the group’s three demands.
No one at the gathering discussed how to pay for the demands.
Group members also encouraged Maine voters to support a November referendum to raise the minimum wage to $12 per hour by 2020.