Missouri Students Association President Xavier Billingsley and Vice President Helena Kooi represented MU students at the annual Big 12 On the Hill conference March 24-26 in Washington, D.C.

Billingsley and Kooi worked alongside other Big 12 student leaders, lobbying to legislators about funding cuts for Pell Grants and changes to Stafford Loans.

“We lobbied mostly on maintaining current programs,” Kooi said. “We realize that the budget is hard for them just like our own state budget.”

Congress is currently considering legislation that would cut some funding for Pell Grants.

There is also legislation being considered that would increase the interest rate for Stafford Loans as well as require repayment of these loans to begin right away instead of six months after starting school.

“We got to speak to five of our Missouri representatives and senators and their staffs and that was really exciting,” Billingsley said.

Billingsley and Kooi spent time training to lobby legislators with the other Big 12 student leaders. Kooi said she thought the training was important to prepare for lobbying.

“We didn’t want them (the legislators) to think we were students who didn’t know what they were doing,” she said.

Both Billingsley and Kooi said the experience was important for Big 12 relations.

“It was a really good way to say goodbye to the Big 12,” Kooi said.

Billingsley said working with the other Big 12 leaders was a good experience.

“A lot of people are facing some similar issues as we are,” he said.

Billingsley said even student leaders from private universities such as Baylor were able to lobby to legislators about federal education funding issues.

Kooi said the relationships she and Billingsley have developed with the other Big 12 student leaders are very important.

“We’ve seen a lot of these student leaders at several different conferences, and we’ve developed a really good relationship,” she said.

The Big 12 represents about 310,000 students. Billingsley said he hoped he was able to be an effective liaison for the students at MU.

“Everybody seemed really receptive and supportive of what we were doing,” he said.

Kooi said Big 12 On the Hill is an opportunity for legislators to speak directly with students.

“It’s always good for legislators to see students,” she said. “I think in a lot of cases, legislators never have face-to-face time with students. Us getting to represent students and just remind them how many students we represent, I think that was one of the best parts.”

Billingsley said the lobbying experience was a unique experience.

“That opportunity was just something that you don’t get to do on an everyday basis,” he said.