ASA’s 34th annual Lobby Day
Arizona is in crisis - our state is facing a $1.4 billion budget shortfall, students have already seen a 63% increase in tuition over the past three years and students are facing huge cuts in their financial aid. The situation is already bad, but it could get a lot worse. That’s why it’s so important that students stand together, so we can protect and defend ourselves from more tuition and fee increases and cuts to financial aid.
The Arizona Students’ Association is holding its 34th annual Lobby Day February 16th at the Arizona Capitol. This is a great chance to join 100 other student leaders from around the state to meet with legislators and talk about the issues that matter to students and have their stories heard!
So if you want to have a strong student voice heard at the State Capitol, sign up for Lobby Day by clicking here.
Lobby Day Agenda
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Arizona State Capitol
House Lawn
9:00 am -9:30 am Registration & Breakfast
9:30 am - 10:00 am Group Breakout Trainings
10:00 am - Noon Lobby Meetings
Noon -1:00pm Luncheon, featuring Governor Jan Brewer
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm Lobby Meetings
1:30 pm House and Senate Floor
2:00 pm House and Senate Committees
3:00 pm - 3:30 pm Debrief
Common Course Numbering
Initiated by ASA as a means to save students the unnecessary time and money spent on transferring core courses from one Arizona public institution to the next, Senate Bill 1186 (SB1186) was intended to streamline the numbering system of core courses amongst all community colleges and universities. By establishing this Common Course Numbering (CCN) system for core courses, ASA aimed to minimize inconsistencies in the current system (Course Equivalency Guide).
Not intended as an end all, be all solution, CCN does not change direct equivalency requirements, only clarifies them. Deep and complex, much must be done to address the issues associated with the transfer process that are costing students and families. CCN is an overdue step in the right direction.
ASA has and continues to collaborate with members of the Arizona Board of Regents to ensure a cost-manageable option to incrementally implement a Common Course Numbering System. As such, we have provided a CCN Report with support documents and an Executive Summary offering a solution.
ASA Works to Get-Out-The-Vote
The Arizona Students’ Association as part of the Arizona Student Vote Coalition*, worked hard to engage students in voter outreach efforts this election season. Here is a glimpse of some of the early numbers.
This election season the ASA:
-Registered over 3,000 students to vote,
-Signed up over 3,000 students for the permanent early voter list,
-Made approximately 20,000 GOTV contacts including:
- more than 2,000 phone Calls,
- over 10,000 email reminders, and
- over 6,000 text messages
*The Arizona Student Vote Coalition is comprised of the Arizona Public Interest Research Group (Arizona PIRG), the Arizona Students’ Association (ASA), the Associated Students of Arizona State University at the Polytechnic Campus (ASASUP), the Undergraduate Student Government at the West Campus (USGW), the Associated Students of Northern Arizona University (ASNAU), the Associated Students of the University of Arizona (ASUA), the Graduate and Professional Student Association at Arizona State University(GPSA), and the Undergraduate Student Government at Arizona State University at the Tempe Campus (USG).
University Students Urge Regents Not to Cut AIMS Scholarship
The Arizona Students’ Association (ASA), a statewide advocacy organization representing all of Arizona’s public university students, continues its opposition to proposed cuts in the Regents High Honors Endorsement Award, also known as the AIMS Scholarship. Elma Delic, ASA Board Chair and a student at the University of Arizona, released the following statement:
The Arizona Students’ Association opposes any cuts to financial aid programs, especially when tuition has dramatically increased and Arizona’s students and families planned on receiving this scholarship.
The AIMS Scholarship has provided an incentive to Arizona’s high school students; that if they work hard and pass the AIMS test, they would be rewarded with an academic award in the amount of in-state tuition at any of Arizona’s universities. Many students in Arizona have planned on receiving this scholarship since this program has begun and many are working hard to utilize this as the key to higher education, as can be seen by the steady increase in recipients.
Currently, the AIMS Scholarship is the only form of financial aid that is keeping pace with the dramatic tuition increases over the past few years. In the past three years alone, tuition has increased 63 percent, causing many scholarships to become inadequate.
The concerns of the universities stem from the fact that tuition has dramatically increased causing the AIMS Scholarship to no longer be viable within its current funding mechanism.
“Cutting financial aid should never be used as a cost-saving measure since it directly impacts both accessibility and affordability,” said Delic. “It is therefore the Arizona Board of Regents and the universities’ responsibility to provide due diligence in examining this program prior to making any substantive changes to minimize the harm to any future recipient of the award.
Click here to view the entire student proposal
Click here to view the original proposal from the Arizona Board of Regents
Click here to view the most recent proposal from the Arizona Board of Regents