With the ever looming threat of higher fares, working class and poor familias are left wondering how will their children go to school if the free Metrocard program in New York City is cut, as has been suggested, as a way to deal with the NY state and city budget crisis.

Today, students themselves demonstrate what will happen if their means to get to school was cut. They won’t be in school. Thousands will engage in school walk-outs to save student metro-cards. The city-wide action is being organized by the Urban Youth Collaborative, representing thousands of students across the city who have been at the forefront of the campaign to save student MetroCards.

Shoshi Doza of DRUM says,

” If student metro-cards are cut, many of Queen’s mostly immigrant and low-income families will suffer greatly. Many of our constituents as South Asian immigrant families simply cannot afford $1200 per child in additional expenses each year while they are already getting laid off and cannot find work. This means many low-income immigrant students will be pushed out of education and a good future.”

My own older daughter relies on the free student Metrocard herself and honestly I don’t know if I could swing the extra $27 a week it would cost for her to get to and from school. The cuts, if they go through, are expected to impact about 600,000 students throughout the five boroughs. This week, students and their parents have been waiting for NYC Mayor Bloomberg outside his subway stop during morning rush hour.

The cost of the student MetroCard program has historically been shared among the City, State, and MTA—with the City and State paying $45M each annually since 1994. This year, the MTA has said it doesn’t have the funds to foot its share, and the Assembly and Senate are split on how much the State can spend.