On Tuesday, students from Temple University joined students from Penn State, University of Pittsburgh and Lincoln University to encourage state legislatures to avoid cutting state-funding for higher education. More than 170 students, with 53 representing Temple, attended the rally in the rotunda of the Capitol Building in Harrisburg.

Each school presented a student speaker, a student government president and a spoken word or singing performance. Temple’s speakers included Temple Student Government Student Body President Colin Saltry, senior public communications major Malcolm Kenyatta, senior social work and political science major Alex McNeil and communications and theater student Elliot Griffin.

“As of today, four out of five Temple students must work at least part-time to finance their educations,” said Saltry. “That’s over 21,000 that work, study and pay taxes in Pennsylvania.”

Earlier this month, Gov. Tom Corbett implemented a budget freeze that cut state funding to universities by five percent. Last year, he cut funding for higher education by 19 percent. Corbett will announce the fiscal budget for the commonwealth on Feb. 7.