About 25 Syracuse University and SUNY-ESF students are traveling to Albany Thursday to lobby government officials and participate in Higher Education Action Day.

Higher Education Action Day is a yearly event in which students and faculty from across New York lobby state legislators to provide more accessible and affordable higher education. The Syracuse and SUNY-ESF chapter of the New York Public Interest Research Group is sponsoring the trip from Syracuse.

“By sitting down in these meetings students will have the opportunity to share their own experience because that’s the most important thing,” said Brittania Smead, project coordinator for NYPIRG’s Syracuse and ESF chapter.

NYPIRG visited classrooms on campus to talk about the trip. It was open to all students, not just those involved with the NYPIRG organization. The bus to Albany leaves at 8 a.m. Thursday morning. The students will spend all day in 15-20 minute sessions with different legislators. The bus will return to Syracuse around 7 p.m.

NYPIRG is a student-run, non-profit advocacy group that aims “to effect policy reforms while training students and other New Yorkers to be advocates,” according to its website.

Smead said that Higher Education Action Day fits very well with NYPIRG’s mission.

“Students are the ones that have such a potential to make change and affect positive change,” Smead said, “As a student-directed organization, our interest is in that student development, in building student power on campus to make those changes.”

This year’s priority talking points at Higher Education Action day will be the New York Dream Act and the Tuition Assistance Program. The Dream Act, which offers funding and support for undocumented students who meet the requirements for in-state tuition, was included in the governor’s budget, but still needs to be approved by the legislature. TAP provides need-based financial aid for New York students. Smead said that the program is in need of reforms and expansion.

Jonathan Schmidt, a freshman at SU and an intern for the Syracuse and ESF NYPIRG branch, said that he’s excited to go on the trip because he’s never had an opportunity like this to make his opinions known.

“I think a lot of times the voice of a student isn’t heard as much as it should be so I think it’s really exciting to have an opportunity to meet with the people who are making decisions,” Schmidt said.

Published on February 26, 2015 at 12:01 am

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