Ithaca College students have joined a nationwide effort to oppose cuts in student loan funding.

Members of the Student Government Association executive board and senate walked around campus with their cell phones Oct. 18, informing other students of proposed loan cuts and urging them to call their Congressional representatives. Participants encouraged representatives to oppose cuts outlined in recently introduced bills that could negatively impact student loan programs.

Senior Dan McCarey, SGA vice president for campus affairs, said calling representatives is one of the most effective ways for individuals to communicate their sentiments about an issue.

“They represent you, and a lot of people take that for granted and don’t use that avenue for action,” he said.

The SGA call-in event was part of a larger “Stop the Raid on Student Aid” campaign started by the United States Student Association. The USSA organized the national campaign and focused on Sept. 20 and Oct. 19 as important call-in days.

Jasmine L. Harris, legislative director for the USSA, said students are urged to continue contacting their representatives through the end of October. She said the Oct. 19 effort generated more than 1,600 calls and more than 4,000 contacts through e-mails, online petitions, faxes, news conferences and student government resolutions.

Harris said the campaign ignited during the summer when Congress initiated the effort to control federal spending. Federal government operations receive a budget every year. When a deficit occurs, Congress can opt to use budget reconciliation. This process calls for House and Senate committees to determine where they can make spending cuts in their programs to reduce the deficit.

In a bill introduced by the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce Tuesday, $15 million would be cut from student loan programs during the next five years. The bill is part of Congress’ effort to control federal spending and to fix a budget deficit, which was intensified by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The committee began reviewing the bill yesterday. This is just one of the recent attempts to reduce student loan funding.

In July, the House education committee passed a bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act for six years. The HEA regulates student aid and other higher education programs, and it is reauthorized every five to seven years. Provisions listed in the bill include $8.6 billion in cuts from student loan programs.

Savings would be achieved by reducing the amount of money the government gives private student loan providers and by requiring borrowers to pay more to get fixed interest rates during loan consolidation.

The House budget proposal would have to be reconciled with a Senate committee bill passed last week that will cut an additional $8 billion in funding for private student loan providers.

Harris said the USSA is opposed to budget reconciliation at the expense of higher education.

“We believe that students are already in a huge hole in terms of being able to meet their financial expenses and meet their college expenses,” she said. “Students need more resources and increases in financial aid, not money taken away from them or increased costs associated with their student loans.”

McCarey said students need to be aware of the issue before they can take action. He said many students he approached on the call- in day had not heard about the proposed cuts.

“It’s just a matter of piquing the students’ interest and getting as many students involved as possible,” he said. “One person calling isn’t much, but if you get a number of people that do it, then they really will have an impact on the decision made by their representative.”

He also said he encourages students to complement calling efforts by submitting letters to the editor or Op-Ed pieces to their local newspapers.

Jeff Lieberson, a spokesperson for the office of Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., in Washington, D.C., said there has been a recent increase in calls about the budget measure but not specifically pertaining to higher education. Budget reconciliation also affects other programs like Social Security and Medicaid.

Still, Harris said students’ efforts have already made an impact, as voting on the reconciliation bill was originally expected to take place in late September but will most likely be held until at least the beginning of November. She said students must continue to aggressively oppose the bill and to voice their opinions to their representatives.

“If we defeat budget reconciliation, then we set ourselves up for a different conversation when it comes to the Higher Education Act reauthorization,” she said. “This is just one small battle in a greater war to get Congress to re-prioritize and to place higher education at the top of their list.”

For more information, visit the United States Student Association’s Web site at www.usstudents.org.