Wednesday, March 19, 2008
By Sara Lipka
A few hundred college students gathered outside the Capitol here on Tuesday, shaking their fists and chanting, "Education is a right."
Among the demonstrators were a woman in a head scarf and a man with pink hair. All had come from campuses around the country for the United States Student Association's annual legislative conference, and they were eager to cap off three days of workshops by rallying and lobbying their representatives in Congress.
The students' main message was plainly lettered on one of several dozen signs held high in the brisk wind: "Education Should Be Your #1 Priority."
Using a bullhorn, two students shared their personal stories of working two or three jobs and racking up thousands of dollars in debt.
"Student fees are hitting us at astronomical rates," said Gregory Cendana, a senior at the University of California at Los Angeles. Textbook costs, he said, are exorbitant, too.
Angela Peoples, a senior at Western Michigan University, talked about the tough economic times in her state. "The burdens that students are being asked to bear," she said, are "unjust and outrageous."
Mr. Cendana, Ms. Peoples, and others urged legislators to move quickly to pass legislation to renew, or reauthorize, the Higher Education Act, which governs most federal student-aid programs. A conference panel is now working to resolve differences between separate bills passed by the Senate and House of Representatives.
Max McNally, a student at Lane Community College, in Eugene, Ore., waved a sign that said, "Free Education."
"That's the goal," he said after the rally. But increasing Pell Grants, he said, would be an acceptable intermediate step. The Pell Grant is the federal government's main subsidy for low-income students, and the maximum annual award is less than $5,000.
One student, lying on the ground, groaned, "I'm done protesting. I want to go back to Minnesota."
Lobbying Senators
But the students were not done. They clustered with others from their states to prepare for visits to the offices of their senators and representatives.
Seven students from various campuses in the University of Wisconsin system headed to a meeting with a legislative assistant to Sen. Russell D. Feingold, a Democrat from their state.
"Is anyone nervous?" asked Omer Farooque, a student at the Waukesha campus.
"I'm kind of excited," said Josh Hockett, a graduate student at the La Crosse campus. The students, only one of whom had lobbied before, had planned out the visit, he said. "We kind of went through it and sketched out a dry run."
Inside the Senate office building, they couldn't find a bathroom but were impressed with the fast elevators. As they waited silently in Senator Feingold's waiting room, Mr. Farooque glanced at his notes, which were scribbled on a piece of hotel paper.
In the meeting room, he began the conversation with Amanda Beaumont, the legislative assistant. "Everybody's really fired up about the reauthorization," he said.
The students, a few of them the first in their families to go to college, talked again about their multiple jobs and steep debt. Two of them said how important Upward Bound and other federal programs that help disadvantaged students prepare for college had been for them.
Jeffrey Allen, president of the United Council of University of Wisconsin Students and a senior at La Crosse, decried the complexity of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as Fafsa. "That is a barrier for students to be able to access higher education," he said.
Ms. Beaumont replied that Senator Feingold shared many of the students' positions and emphasized his support for increased Pell Grants and greater openness in the student-loan industry.
Afterward, the young activists were satisfied. "The point of most of these lobby visits is just to make sure they hear the student voice and our experiences," said Cristina Treviño-Murphy, a student at the system's main campus, in Madison.
Ms. Treviño-Murphy planned to meet with a few more legislators before heading home. Twenty students would make the 16-hour trip back to Wisconsin in a caravan of three vehicles on Tuesday night, she said.
They traveled that way to stretch the funds that the university and the student association had provided for the conference, she said. "None of us minded cutting corners so that more people could come to Washington."