A family begins the lobbying process for their fair share of federal student aid when they start the FAFSA process. However, before they can even begin to receive money from the various federal student aid programs, somebody else has to lobby for those coffers to be filled every year. And, ultimately, it comes down to the federal government (our legislators) to appropriate the proper amount of funds to keep these programs in existence.
Our legislators will be coming together on July 26th to decide how federal dollars will be allocated for federal student aid programs. They have been provided a spending cap of $139.2 billion dollars. That may seem like a lot of money but it is drastically less than what has been allocated in prior years.
Justin Draeger is the president for NASFAA (National Association of Financial Aid Administrators) and he recommends that we all (students, parents, college administrators, education advocates, etc) do our part to “take action” and help make our legislators know that accessibility to education is important to us. Here are a few ways that you can help:
- Contact your representative and explain the importance of the student aid programs and how even small cuts can affect students. NASFAA has provided letter templates to aid you in this process.
- Share NASFAA’s “Faces of Student Aid” booklet with lawmakers to help them understand how cutting aid will impact all students.
- Join the “Save Student Aid” campaign (on Facebook) and urge your students to do likewise. Stories shared through the Facebook campaign lead to media stories that have an impact on the student aid debate.
- Pass this information onto others via your social media connections/conduits (Share Toolbar is below)
Federal student aid funding plays an essential role in helping students achieve their educational goals. Please take a moment to utilize the steps above to help spread the word about how important federal student aid is for our future scholars.
