University of Colorado students staged a mock funeral for higher education at a campus demonstration Wednesday, rallying for state funding and opposing a measure to give school leaders more flexibility to raise tuition, The Boulder Daily Camera reports. Students bemoaned Colorado’s nearly last-place standings when it comes to state support for higher education, as a cellist played solemn music. Student leaders wore black. A podium was adorned with a grave marker stating “RIP higher education.”

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Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: Tuition increases aren’t the only way to keep college coffers at least semi-full amidst state budget cuts, Mesa State College President Tim Foster said Wednesday at a student-led rally for higher-education funding at the college. “Talks about flexibility have often been about tuition flexibility. We believe there are other forms of flexibility,” Foster said. Foster and presidents from colleges around Colorado hoped to make operations more flexible by writing a list of suggestions for a higher-education flexibility bill for this session of the Legislature. But Colorado Department of Higher Education Executive Director Rico Munn has said no to many of the presidents’ proposals, Foster said.