Students lobby politicians
After years of rising student fees, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed halting all higher-education fee increases for the next scholastic year. The freeze however, comes at the expense of a $7 million cut in funding of campus outreach programs.
This move prompted a visit to Sacramento from San Diego State Associated Students executives for a crash course in lobbying. The A.S. executive council – President Chris Manigault, Vice President Kristi Kimura, VP of External Affairs LaToya Jarrett, VP of Finance Matt Keipper and VP of University Affairs Dennis Kramer – ventured to the California capital to learn how to lobby politicians to increase funding to the statewide higher-education system, putting the knowledge into effect toward the end of the conference.
Manigault criticized student fee increases that he said are too often used to maintain the status quo, instead of directly benefiting universities.
“If we had a student fee increase and all of a sudden we had more faculty on campus, then that would be good,” Manigault said. “But a fee increase just for stability or to balance the budget, we just want to say, is not good.”
While A.S. is in support of the fee freeze, some legislators say this will only make the budget more chaotic and are instead calling for gradual and predictable fee increases.
Manigault called the issue “one of those things where I can see the positive and the negative, as well.”
But while A.S. officials lobbied on behalf of the governor’s proposed fee freeze, they also urged legislators to reject the cut from campus outreach. If instituted, the cuts would affect many programs that recruit students and allow incoming freshmen to move onto campus early to become better acclimated to college life.
A.S. officials also lobbied to increase funding to California State Grants by $100 million, making more financial aid available to lower-income students.
Jarrett said that this was necessary because the costs of attending a university have risen significantly in the past 20 years, and that she felt the Cal grants have not gone up proportionally.
