Pedaling across state to protest tuition hikes

When Dave Hennessy was a college freshman in the 1950s, he received free tuition and only had to work 21 hours a week at $1 an hour to pay his way through New York's Cortland State Teachers College. Today at the same school with a tuition rate comparable to that of IU, he said a student would have to work 59 hours a week at $5.50 an hour to get by.\n"Working your way through school is not an option anymore," Hennessy said. "It's numerically impossible."\nTo speak out against the rising rates of college tuition, the 71-year-old Nashville, Ind., resident embarked on a journey throughout Indiana, riding from one university town to the next.\nOne thousand miles on his bike.\nThe former elementary educator and training consultant describes his journey with youthful vivacity saying he doesn't feel anywhere close to his age. His eyes light up at the mention of anything concerning education -- especially when it comes to emphasizing the reasons for the ride he completed Monday morning with a final stretch from Columbus, Ind., to Indianapolis. His trip was complete with the meeting of Cornelius Wright, Assistant Director of Indiana University's Hoosiers for Higher Education organization at IUPUI.\nHennessy said one of the reasons for taking the trip was to pay back society for the free college education he received. At the time, a G.I. Bill and other state programs allowed for free in-state tuition for those students who wished to become educators. Looking back at what an impact his education had on his life and the lives of his family, Hennessy said children of today's middle class deserve those same opportunities.\n"Middle-class families make too little to send their kids to college without going into debt, but they make too much to get federal aid," Hennessy said. "People at the poverty level get the financial aid, and the wealthy families do what they want with their money and send their kids to the best schools. \nI don't have a problem with either one of those groups. We need to help those in poverty, and the wealthy can do whatever they want with their money. But it's the middle class suffering right now."\nTo do his part in easing the financial burden among these families, Hennessy and his wife, Milly, set up a scholarship fund for qualified Brown County residents pursuing higher education at two- or four-year Indiana schools. \nThe Brown County Citizens' Scholarships are two-year, $4,000 awards to students who attended Brown County High School for at least two years and who are not eligible for federal aid. After scholarship winners receive their awards, they're eligible to apply again.\n"We look at it as a business," Hennessy said. "We select the right students and carry them through to the end. We see this as producing an educated human being to be productive after they graduate. It doesn't make sense not to follow them all the way through," he said.\nBut to help fund a scholarship, why would a 71-year-old hop on a bike and ride around the state?\n"What am I going to do? I'm retired. I'm not going to sit around and watch television…and golf doesn't appeal to me," Hennessy said. "You've got to have credibility…It's setting an example for all seniors to get out. Many of them are former businessmen, teachers and professionals. They've got great management, creativity and professional skills and they're not using them."\nHennessy said Indiana is currently the only state in the Union with a Community Foundation in every county funded by the Lilly Endowment. These foundations allow individuals to philanthropically serve their communities -- the same foundations Hennessy said seniors need to become involved in by putting their talents to work. \nTo help encourage seniors' efforts, his ride was supported by the Aging & Community Service of Central Indiana, Inc.\nHennessy's trip was an emotional one, as he said he and his wife "met so many wonderful people at the many colleges and universities" who "embraced the themes of the ride."\nBut Hennessy's trip was also challenging and, at times, death-defying. \n"I've had brushes with trucks and dogs," he said. At one point along his journey, which included many treks along busy highways with narrow shoulders, Hennessy had to throw himself off the side of the road to avoid being clocked and nearly decapitated by a semi carrying cement blocks.\nHis wife, who drives along with Hennessy as he rides, said his physical durability surpasses that of many younger bicyclists.\n"At one point, he rode five consecutive days," Milly said. "Some much, much younger riders can't even do that."\nMilly plays an integral role in Hennessy's safety; she rides ahead and waits for him to make it to a certain point. \n"I carry extra tubes, water, Gatorade and extra clothing," she said. "I pass him and give him a signal, and if he doesn't come, I get worried he might have been hit by a truck or rolled over in a ditch…It's important that I'm there because I've had to go back seven times."\nHennessy realizes he couldn't make the trip alone.\n"This is a two-man operation," he said. "I had mixed emotions regarding the end of the ride. I felt a sense of relief on the one hand and a sense of disappointment on the other."\nWith those mixed feelings, the Hennessys hope to continue the scholarship's funding for years to come. At present, however, their finances limit the number of students they are able to reward.\nDespite this, Hennessy will continue to promote activism and awareness in an effort to prevent "the children of middle class families from becoming an extinct species on our college and university campuses"