Members of the Missouri Students Association traveled to Washington D.C. last week for the annual Big XII on the Hill conference. There they lobbied lawmakers on issues concerning higher education, specifically possible cuts to the Federal Pell Grant Program.
The focus of the lobbying depends on the issues of the day, MSA President Eric Woods said in an e-mail. The purpose of the trip was to meet with Missouri representatives and senators and discuss student issues.
“We asked the members of congress we met with simply to be mindful of the dramatic impacts cuts to the Pell Grant Program can have, especially because they are received by low income students,” former Senate Speaker Evan Wood said in an e-mail.
According to trustudent.com, a Pell Grant is a type of loan from the federal government given to students with the most financial need. These grants do not need to be repaid.
Pell Grant funding is subject to some major cuts with the budget bills that are being considered by Congress, Wood said.
MSA members were able to meet with Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Rep. Blaine Leutkemeyer, R-Mo. and Rep. Billy Long, R-Mo., Woods said.
“I’m glad they were able to hear things from a student perspective,” Woods said. “They took our concerns to mind. I’d like to think we’ve made an impact.”
All of the student government representatives broke up into groups Thursday and were assigned a representative to speak to about the Pell Grant issue, Woods said.
“Students from Texas (A&M) and Oklahoma were present at that meeting,” Wood said. “The purpose of including them was to present ourselves as a unified front.”
The MSA representatives were given a tour of the USA Today headquarters Friday. After the tour, some officials asked for volunteers to participate in a focus group specifically about the news reading habits of college students.
“They’re very committed to college students, and some of our students got to participate in a special focus group,” Wood said. “It was really cool.”
The purpose of the focus group was to hear suggestions and feedback for their USA Today College coverage, as well as their readership program. This readership program is paid for by MSA and allows students to read several national newspapers for free, Wood said.
“I stayed behind to participate in the focus group,” Wood said. “It was an interesting opportunity, and I feel like it gave us a chance to represent our student constituents in a unique way.”
Overall, the conference was very successful, Secretary of Auxiliaries Matt Sheppard said.
“MU was well represented compared to the other schools,” Sheppard said. “We were on top of our lobbying, and I am proud of everyone.”
The University of Texas and Texas Tech University were not present at the conference. The University of Colorado and the University of Nebraska were also missing, as they are leaving the Big XII Conference.