Oppose Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed cuts to the state’s higher education funding?

Run to the Capitol and tell him.

That’s exactly what the Lock Haven University cross country team plans to do this Sunday as they prepare to join other students from the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education in a rally to protest Corbett’s plan to slice the state’s higher education budget in half.

In a move spearheaded by cross country coach Aaron Russell and senior captain Nick Hilton, the Bald Eagles will lead a contingent of more than 30 runners in “The 100 to Stay Funded”, a 100-mile relay from Lock Haven to the steps of the Capitol.

“As students we need to stand together as one voice and show our solidarity. That’s our primary defense against this bill,” said Hilton, a Reading native. “We thought it was a great way to show Governor Corbett that we’re not going to back down and take this kind of cuts to our education.”

The team will begin their run on campus Sunday night at 8:30 p.m., and run through the night to get to City Island Monday morning. They will then join other students from other State System schools in a rally outside the Capitol at 11:30 a.m.

At least three former Mid-Penn Conference athletes will be among the Lock Haven cross country contingent.

Sophomore runners Mike Garraway (Cedar Cliff High School) and Mike Nemeth (Cumberland Valley), and freshman Danny Keich (CD East) all say the proposed budget cuts would have a tremendous adverse effect on their financial situations.

Keich says his parents have had to each take on a part-time job in addition to their full-time jobs to help pay for his college education. If the cuts go through, he’s worried that he might have to take out sizable loans to pay for school. He’s also wary of the fact that the shrinking state education budget means his father’s job might already be in peril.

“My dad is a paraprofessional in the Central Dauphin School District, and I know the district is already looking into cutting jobs. My dad’s job isn’t a guarantee because it’s not as steady as a full-time teacher position,” Keich said. “So especially if high school budgets are also cut, it’ll be really difficult to pay for college if my dad loses his job.”

State System colleges attract a sizable amount of their student body due to the lower tuition costs. Garraway, for instance, was offered a partial athletic scholarship to Duquesne coming out of his senior year at Cedar Cliff, but even with that scholarship, Duquesne was still twice as expensive as Lock Haven.

“One of the main factors was price,” Garraway said. “I want to be a teacher, and I don’t want to be paying back student loans over years and years.”

According to Russell, the proposed 54 percent cut for appropriations translates roughly to a $14 million dip for Lock Haven specifically. To offset that, tuition would increase 32 percent, with student fees going up 10 percent. In-state tuition and room and board at Lock Haven currently runs about $14,243 per academic year.

Many college students work part-time to help finance their education, but student-athletes seldom have that luxury.”Sometimes we can take on part-time jobs on campus, but for the most part, with full courseloads and athletics, taking on a full-time job is not something you can do,” Hilton said. “The time we put into athletics is no less than a Division I school, and we take it very seriously.”

Because PSAC schools compete at the Division II level, it’s almost unheard of for any athlete to be awarded the type of full scholarships that Division I athletes get.

Russell says he splits a 1.66-scholarship amongst his female athletes and 1.46 amongst the men. In both cases, it means a scholarship and a half gets divided amongst roughly 15 to 20 student-athletes. The scholarships will not be affected by any budget cuts because the scholarship money doesn’t come from the university’s public funds, but the cuts will affect the team’s operating budget and travel allowances.

“I think the little people now feel that when people start throwing around numbers, they lose the faces associated with them. Our student-athletes want the administrators to see them as students of the Commonwealth, and they are important to the future of the state,” Russell said.