CHAPEL HILL - Facing double-digit tuition hikes throughout the UNC system, students at UNC-Chapel Hill who are organizing against the hikes will host a film screening and discussion on student loan debt.

The UNC-CH chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) will screen "Default: The Student Loan Documentary" at 7 p.m. tonight, Jan. 25, in Murphey Building room 104.

According to its website, the film "chronicles the stories of borrowers from different backgrounds affected by the private student lending industry and their struggles to change the system."

Following the screening, Serge Bakalian, the documentary's producer and co-writer, will speak briefly about the film and answer audience questions.

"It's especially relevant to hold this film screening and discussion now because so many of us have had to take out student loans as the Board of Governors raises our tuition year after year. The average student in graduates with nearly $20,000 in student loan debt, and with the huge hikes that are looming, this is only going to increase," graduate student Steve Milder said. "We can't afford more loans, especially not now during this economic crisis and with few good jobs waiting for us after graduation."

The film screening is part of a series of a series of teach-ins that UNC Chapel Hill SDS has scheduled in the run-up to the UNC System Board of Governers' Feb. 10 vote on proposed tuition increases for next year. Under the five-year tuition plan proposed by UNC Provost Bruce Carney, an incoming first-year students could expect to pay an additional $15,000 in tuition and fees over the course of their four years at Carolina, according to organizers.

"We're working with students all over the state to be at the Board of Governor's meeting on February 10 to speak out against these tuition hikes," said UNC-CH undergraduate student Eric Bost. "The North Carolina Constitution says that higher education should be free. They're closing the doors of education for so many people with every hike they pass. We believe that education is a right, and that we shouldn't have to be burdened with student loan debt the rest of our lives just to get an education."