On March 28 and 29, four Oswego State students traveled to Washington, D.C. to take part in SUNY Students on the Hill.

SUNY Students on the Hill was developed through a partnership between the SUNY Office of Federal Relations and SUNY Student Assembly to send student representatives from a variety of SUNY schools to the offices of federal representatives to advocate for increased federal support of higher education.

The Oswego State students who took part in the program were Alex George, Peter Mancarella, Eusebio Omar van Reenen and Derek Smith.

To take part in the program, students sent in an application containing their resume, two essays under 300 words, a letter of recommendation and a headshot. Applicants were also asked to include their ZIP code to match them with the appropriate representative, if they were from New York State.

“After reading the description, I thought that it would be a great way to advocate for the SUNY system and for higher education,” Mancarella said.

When in Washington, D.C., the students were then broken up into groups and met with a professional lobbyist to discuss the topics they would be bringing to the offices of the representatives they were set to meet.

“One lobbyist from the firm went with a group of four or five SUNY students and we went with a lobbyist who advocates and brings up these issues about the Pell [Grant],” Smith said.

The issues brought up for this program were on five major points, one of which was increasing the Pell Grant from $5,915 per semester to $5,920.

“That might seem like a small increase, but it’s pretty important, as they were considering reducing that,” Mancarella said.

On the Pell Grant, another issue was raised about allowing students to apply for and use the Pell Grant over the whole year, rather than just for the traditional fall and spring semesters, to allow for completion of their degrees on time.

On issues of other student aid programs, students asked representatives to advocate for the continued and increased support of campus-based aid programs like the Educational Opportunity Program and federal work study.

Another major point brought up was reducing the student loan interest rate for federal loans.

“We also spoke about supporting undocumented students and asked representatives to support the bipartisan BRIDGE [Bar Removal of Individuals Who Dream and Grow Our Economy] Act, which would extend legal protections for the cohorts of undocumented immigrants for three years,” Mancarella said.

The BRIDGE Act provides protection and employment authorization to immigrants in positions that may potentially be deported by the Department of Homeland Security, if they entered the United States before they turned 16, have lived in the United States since June 2007, but were undocumented at that time and are enrolled in or have completed a course of study through a high school or general education development certificate or have been honorably discharged from the military or Coast Guard.

Students who took part in the program met with representatives with students from other SUNY schools who were also involved in the program.

“There were four other students in my group, one was from Brockport, two were from Albany,” Smith said.

The SUNY Students on the Hill program also allowed students to network with alumni of the SUNY system in Washington, D.C., as well as to attend speeches, including one by Kyle Lierman, one of the creators of the “It’s On Us” campaign to prevent sexual assault on college campuses.

“It was a great opportunity to meet with staff members of representatives from New York State in order to advocate for higher education in order to benefit students not just of the SUNY system but also all students in New York,” Mancarella said.