Students from universities all around the U.S. grouped together to march on their campuses, holding signs and chanting against student debt, low minimum wage and rising tuition costs.

MSU's participation in the march, organized by the Students For Sanders campaign group in concert with other student groups, began at The Rock and wound its way around campus until the rally ended in front of the Hannah Administration Building.

There, several students delivered prepared speeches addressing their misgivings about the current cost of a college education and a call on local authorities to address students’ concerns. 

One such student was Dan Martel, who works at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center with a roughly $9 per hour wage. Part of his speech included a factual tidbit that Kellogg Center student employees have some of the highest wages among their fellow students. Even while working 40 hours or more a week, Martel said he's put "barely a dent" in his student loan debt.

Several different campus activist chapters marched in solidarity, including the Climate Reality Project and Degrees Not Debt. Though the Million Student March’s nationwide focus was on minimum wage and college tuition hikes, the organizers encouraged various activist groups to come out and march in solidarity.

Other students simply showed up unaffiliated with a specific activist group. Robert Van Kirk, a graduate student acting as representative for the Council of Graduate Students in the criminal justice department, relayed a story involving his time on the housing committee within the Council of Graduate Students.

Investigating the costs of housing in East Lansing and on-campus living for students, Van Kirk and the rest of the committee has held a number of meetings with university officials. At one meeting, an official mentioned they were expanding graduate student living by tearing down Spartan Village.

When pressed on the cost of such a project, the university official simply responded, “Whatever the market will bear.”

“To me that told me exactly the point of the view of the university and the administration is whatever the market will bear for the cost of education and the cost of housing at Michigan State University, and that’s unacceptable,” Van Kirk said.