Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Support the IDS in College Media Madness! Donate here March 24 - April 8.
Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

IUSA executives talk higher education with state legislators

Representatives from the IU Student Association and members of the Purdue student government met with all the Indiana senators and representatives Tuesday to discuss higher education issues in Indiana.

Some hot-button issues included higher education affordability, immigration, student mental health and the prevention of sexual assault on campuses.

“It was a lot of open dialogue about these issues and getting our input on it,” said Christopher Kauffman, vice president of administration for IUSA. “It was an idea-sharing session.”

IUSA executive members were given 30 to 40 minutes to speak with each representative or representatives’ staff members.

Kauffman said the legislators were receptive to what IUSA and Purdue student government members had to say.

“Legislators believe in students and want to hear from students,” Kauffman said. “If you can bring student voice to the table in a respectful and effective manner, then a lot of people are willing to listen.”

IUSA President Jose Mitjavila said the most important issue they discussed was the need to renew the Higher Education Act to keep student loan interest rates at a manageable rate.

This would also ensure Pell Grants and Unsubsidized and Subsidized Stafford Loans are still options for students.

They discussed the need for more flexible and reasonable loan repayment programs, such as income-based repayment, which would mean that students could repay their loans based on a percentage of their income.

Kauffman said this would make it easier for poor students out of college to pay back their debt.

“If you leave IU with a lot of debt and you have to pay a flat 10-percent interest rate, that ends up being a sizeable portion of your income and makes it hard to live,” Kauffman said.

Mitjavila said IUSA members also lobbied for increased enforcement of the Cleary Act, which requires universities to report sexual assaults on campuses.

“Ideally, we would like regulation that incentivizes increased reporting by universities so that the public can get a better grasp of the actual number of sexual assaults on campus,” Mitjavila said. “The Cleary Act is not strictly enforced, leaving less incentive for universities to do so and potentially creating a system for under-reporting.”

Kauffman said this event demonstrated college student governments have the power to make change by bringing issues directly to the legislators.

“I think, in the future, it’s making sure that we are ever-present in front of state and federal legislature to make sure that they know these are priorities to students,”
Kauffman said. “These are problems that need to be solved. It is about awareness, but it’s also about persistence in generating that awareness.”

Get stories like this in your inbox
Subscribe