In an effort to receive $40 billion in more government grants for students, the Arizona Students’ Association will host a week of action at the Downtown campus.
Pell Week, a series of events intended to foster support for the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, will begin at the downtown campus on Oct. 5 and continue throughout the week. ASA will use Pell Week to notify U.S. Sen. John McCain and U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl of the importance of SAFRA, said Michael Slugocki, the Downtown campus ASA coordinator.
SAFRA will increase Pell Grants, government money for students, by $40 billion and will allow the federal government to place $47 billion in loans directly into the hands of students by essentially skipping the bank, Slugocki said.
“If SAFRA is not passed students are missing out on a huge opportunity towards making education more affordable,” Slugocki said. “We need to work now and work hard to get this passed.”
Members of ASA will take pictures and collect stories of any student who has or will take out student loans on Monday, Slugocki said. At the end of the week, ASA will compile the pictures and debt stories into a debt yearbook and send it to McCain and Kyl.
Slugocki also said ASA will have phones and computers available for students to call, email and fax the offices of the senators throughout the week.
“The key thing is to come out and get involved either in Pell Week events or on Facebook,” Slugocki said.
ASA is attempting to gain 10,000 members in a group on Facebook, Slugocki said, adding that the amount of students showing support for student aid will further explain the importance of SAFRA to the senators.
SAFRA has been passed in the U.S. House of Representatives and ASA is working toward passing it in the Senate. Slugocki said students and the ASA need to work together to pass SAFRA by Oct. 15, when the Congressional session ends.
Pell Week at the ASU Tempe campus began on Sept. 28, and ASA intern Jeff Karas said the school-wide campaign has been successful. Karas said the debt yearbook is averaging 100 pictures and debt stories per day.
“Pell grants are easy money for students, just fill out a FASFA at the beginning of the year to see if you qualify,” Karas said. “I’m working to get SAFRA passed because my 10 hours a week could potentially save individual students tens of thousands of dollars.”
Sophomore nurse Catie Clemency, who is in favor of SAFRA, said that because of the economy, school is difficult to pay for. Clemency said she receives about $20,000 in loans per year in addition to an annual $9,000 scholarship.
“Even just a few thousand dollars a year would really help ease the debt I’m facing when I graduate,” Clemency said. “It’s kinda scary thinking about how much I’ll owe plus interest.”
Contact the reporter at ebaggs@asu.edu
