College costs prompt student rally in Washington, D.C.
Sally Dadisman
Issue date: 3/20/07 Section: News
By Sally Dadisman
MCT Campus
With almost $40,000 of debt in student loans after graduating from UC San Diego in 2005, Jennifer Pae has had enough. Pae, along with around 400 other students rallied in Washington, D.C., last week to protest what they see as a major problem in higher education funding: There isn't enough.
"College is quickly becoming out of reach," Pae said. "Four hundred thousand qualified high school students can't go due to costs. We need to ensure education must be a legislative priority this congressional year."
While convening at the Capitol, United States Student Association delegates, who came from 20 states and almost 300 campuses, had the chance to make 150 Congressional visits. Congressman George Miller (D-CA), the current chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor, joined the students.
"It's empowering to have students coming to fight for their rights," said Carmen Berkley, who is the grassroots legislative liaison for USSA's executive board. "(The rally) being in front of the Capitol building, it says a lot that ... we're the ones representing all students from every walk of life all across the country"
Berkley and Pae, who is president of the USSA, along with many others, held the rally to celebrate the organization's 60th anniversary and to launch National Student Lobby Day.Fighting the bitter cold, students came to voice their concern over the rising cost of education.
"Although the weather made it extremely cold, for all of the students it's a deep issue many students are impacted by," Pae said. A main reason for having it on Capitol Hill was to get the message to the public, but also to members of Congress, she said.
Pae highlighted the fact that almost two-thirds of the 15 million students graduating college will, on average, be leaving with almost $20,000 in debt.
Also during the rally, students were able to meet with congressional representatives and staffers. "All of the people we went to were very receptive," said Berkley, who is a senior studying political science and communication at the University of Pittsburgh. "They knew about their education policy, but they weren't as well-versed on higher education. We were able to give them stories from the constituents, and they said things like, `We never thought of that way.'"
MCT Campus
With almost $40,000 of debt in student loans after graduating from UC San Diego in 2005, Jennifer Pae has had enough. Pae, along with around 400 other students rallied in Washington, D.C., last week to protest what they see as a major problem in higher education funding: There isn't enough.
"College is quickly becoming out of reach," Pae said. "Four hundred thousand qualified high school students can't go due to costs. We need to ensure education must be a legislative priority this congressional year."
While convening at the Capitol, United States Student Association delegates, who came from 20 states and almost 300 campuses, had the chance to make 150 Congressional visits. Congressman George Miller (D-CA), the current chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor, joined the students.
"It's empowering to have students coming to fight for their rights," said Carmen Berkley, who is the grassroots legislative liaison for USSA's executive board. "(The rally) being in front of the Capitol building, it says a lot that ... we're the ones representing all students from every walk of life all across the country"
Berkley and Pae, who is president of the USSA, along with many others, held the rally to celebrate the organization's 60th anniversary and to launch National Student Lobby Day.Fighting the bitter cold, students came to voice their concern over the rising cost of education.
"Although the weather made it extremely cold, for all of the students it's a deep issue many students are impacted by," Pae said. A main reason for having it on Capitol Hill was to get the message to the public, but also to members of Congress, she said.
Pae highlighted the fact that almost two-thirds of the 15 million students graduating college will, on average, be leaving with almost $20,000 in debt.
Also during the rally, students were able to meet with congressional representatives and staffers. "All of the people we went to were very receptive," said Berkley, who is a senior studying political science and communication at the University of Pittsburgh. "They knew about their education policy, but they weren't as well-versed on higher education. We were able to give them stories from the constituents, and they said things like, `We never thought of that way.'"
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Bryan Hughs
posted 4/03/07 @ 12:58 PM PST
I love how we waste thousands of dollars every year to send "kids" to D.C. to lobby people who arent there and/or dont listen cause we have no money!
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