The Arizona Students’ Association launched a new group on Tuesday to emphasize accessibility and affordability in higher education to Arizona’s voters.

The group, called Arizona Voters for Higher Education, was created to make sure elected officials and the general public treat higher education as a serious issue, according to a statement.

The group plans to attract students, their families, alumni, business leaders and community members in order to lobby elected officials and educate voters on politicians’ approaches toward higher education.

ASA spokesman Christian Vasquez said Arizona Voters for Higher Education will take public information on politicians and officials and organize report cards and newsletters to educate voters.

“[This] information is available to the public already,” Vasquez said. “We will be making this information more accessible.”

The group will create report cards of legislators’ support of higher education based on voting records and public statements, Vasquez said, and they will then be released to members.

Arizona Voters for Higher Education will not endorse candidates or a political party at this time, Vasquez said, and it will focus specifically on higher education.

Vasquez said anybody can sign up to receive information or become a member.

The group is not limited specifically to students or families with students, he said.

“We’re just a group of concerned citizens. ... We’re not specifically led by any one group,” he said.

Michael Wong, ASA governing affairs director, said the group will also work to make higher education an important subject for all state and national legislators, whether or not there is a university campus in their district.

“Our goal is to make sure that they understand that higher education is not just a university thing,” said Wong, who is working to facilitate student involvement in Arizona Voters for Higher Education at ASU. “[Arizona] will see significant economic growth … because of the opportunities that the university system in Arizona uniquely offers.”

High-quality higher education will benefit local businesses and provide more skilled workers across the state, Wong said, and that benefits people from every district.

Representatives with university campuses in their districts typically receive a lot of input from students, but Wong said a great number of students and their families are registered to vote in other districts across the state.

“There are so many students [from other districts] that now attend ASU,” he said. “These families are affected by tuition hikes and by the way we go about crafting higher-education policy.”

Ultimately, Wong said that Arizona Voters for Higher Education will place an emphasis on affordability and accessibility within the Legislature to turn Arizona into a hub of higher education.

“It’s everyday people coming together and rallying around a cause,” he said. “It’s really important that we keep the doors open.”

Reach the reporter at adam.sneed@asu.edu.