An advocacy group of education organizations is working to save financial aid — one signature at a time.
The Student Aid Alliance, an organization composed of 75 universities and higher-education groups, is running its Save Student Aid initiative to collect signatures from both students and faculty.
The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and the American Council on Education are leading the alliance.
“(The alliance) represents students, presidents, financial aid officers, faculty members and other administrators and staff at virtually every college in the nation,” said Tony Pals, spokesman for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.
“Colleges are urged to join in our activities and support the Save Student Aid initiative,” he said.
Some universities — including Harvard University — and university systems — including the University of Maryland system — are members of the alliance.
Jonathan Fansmith, associate director for government relations for the American Council on Education, said the alliance is trying to make sure Congress understands that proposed cuts to the Pell grant program would impact real students — people who are going to contribute to the nation’s economic recovery.
The alliance’s goal is to preserve federal student aid programs and to maintain an investment in student aid, he said.
UNC is a member of the American Council on Education, so it is represented by the council on the Student Aid Alliance, Fansmith said.
But neither UNC — nor any of its fellow UNC-system institutions — are members of the Student Aid Alliance.
Fansmith said there is no particular reason the University is not already a member of the alliance.
Fansmith said the alliance’s Save Student Aid petition has already grown well beyond expectations.
“We’d love to have UNC students signing on as well,” he said.
Even though the University does not participate in the alliance, Phil Asbury, deputy director of the Department of Scholarships and Student Aid at UNC, said it is an effective organization.
UNC wouldn’t be resistant to joining them, but administrators haven’t considered it, he said.
He said the University is already a member of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, which educates its members about financial aid rules and engages in lobbying.
“Their scope is much more broad than the Student Aid Alliance,” Asbury said.
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