Proposed Tax No Fair, Brown U. Students Say

Students at Brown University say they contribute to their community in countless ways, and a proposed $150-per-semester tax shouldn’t be one of them, the AP reports. “We’re more able to provide labor, we’re more able to apply the things that we're learning in the classroom, than we are to write a $300 check,” said one opposed to the plan from the mayor of Providence, RI.

“Everyone should be doing their part and coming to the table,” Mayor David Cicilline of the 25,000 students at the city’s four private colleges he believes should help foot the bills for services they use. Providence is facing a $17 million deficit, and the student tax would bring in up to $8 million a year. But students—who pay nearly $40,000 a year in tuition—say they’re burdened enough. (More David Cicilline stories.)