Ivy Council lobbies Congress for student loans

The Ivy Council -- a student government organization consisting of representatives from the eight Ivy League schools -- sent its president, Cornell junior Brian Gaither, to Washington, D.C. last week to lobby the Senate and House of Representatives to reauthorize the Perkins student loan program. Congress has considered decreasing funding for the program, which provides federal aid to college students. Penn Undergraduate Assembly Vice Chairperson and College sophomore Samara Barend wrote the proposal Gaither presented to federal officials and legislators at the Capitol. "This could be huge," Barend said. "It is a chance for [the Ivy Council] to influence on a large scale." Barend -- Penn's representative on the Ivy Council's steering committee -- rewrote the council's original proposal because she found it ambiguous and thought it could be clarified. "As the Ivy Council, if we are going to take a stance, we need to have logical statements and statistics and numbers to back us up," she said. Barend's resolution states that Perkins loans have decreased 82 percent since 1980. It notes that in the same year Perkins loans covered 48 percent of the average four year college tuition, while today the program only covers 22 percent. The resolution states that "Perkins loans, supplemental education opportunity grants and federal work study are each unique. Any attempts to consolidate would result in substantial reductions in student aid packages." Barend said the next step in the lobbying process is to win support from the administrations of the eight Ivy League schools. "Individual schools have to speak out about [the proposal]," she said. "It's the way to get something to happen." She added that the resolution demonstrates Ivy Council's increased visibility. "It's definitely a new direction for the Council," she said. "We haven't done anything to this extent in this past." Penn's UA passed the resolution Barend took to Ivy Council by a margin of 20-0, with College freshman Matt Chait and David Goldberger abstaining from the vote. "As a group of students I don't think its up to us to tell the federal government what to do with their tax dollars," Goldberger said. "Sure, I'd love to see [the government] give more money to student loans, but I don't know where the money's coming from." Chait also said that he didn't vote because he felt he lacked adequate knowledge on the subject. "I abstained because I did not have enough information," he said. "If Congress wants to cut [the Perkins loan] it must be for some reason. Before I vote I want to know why they want to cut it." UA members re-elected Barend to the Ivy Council on Sunday. The other newly elected UA members that will represent Penn on the Ivy Council include College freshman Dan Kryzanowski, Engineering junior John Seitz and Wharton and College sophomore Andrew Ross. The next Ivy Council constitutional convention is scheduled for May 10 at Columbia University. The body will discuss the amount of authority individual members will have in the future to represent their respective schools.