Last Tuesday, 22 students traveled to Washington, D.C. for NYU's annual D.C. Day. The students are part of the Jumpstart and America Reads programs at NYU and paid to work with pre-K, elementary, middle school and high school students through the federal work-study program. The group lobbied for Congress to maintain current spending on financial aid programs.
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NYU began participating in D.C. Day in conjunction with Cornell University and Columbia University five years ago. Director of Government Relations Steve Heuer has been coordinating the event since the beginning and stressed the significance of the event this year.
"This is the first year since I've been here that there's actually been budget bills and actual legislation that's passed the House that's cut programs," he said.
Republican lawmakers associated with the Tea Party want to trim $100 billion of this year's budget and have recommended lowering the maximum amount of money available to students through Pell Grant from $5,550 to $850 and completely eliminating the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants. The proposal is currently under discussion.
The students arrived in D.C. concerned about the possibility of cuts to their federal financial aid.
"I feel like we're exercising our right to come and represent ourselves and represent our interests to Congress," Gallatin freshman Lauren Wilfong said. "It serves as a reminder that we do have access and we should be exercising our right to an opinion and try to influence what happens in this country because it's our country."
In addition to talking with 20 congressmembers, the group met up with Jeff Lieberson, an NYU alumnus and former WSN reporter who now works as Congressman Maurice Hinchey's (D-NY) chief of staff.
"For many, many people it is extremely difficult to afford college, and anything that can be done to strengthen financial aid and support is critical," he said. "It was important for a lot of people then and even more so now."
Heuer hopes that the issue will gain more attention and that even more students will be able to participate in the future.
"It would be nice to have a few more students who receive aid to participate, and even if they can't participate, to reach out to their local elected officials in support of those programs," he said.
