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Supporting SAFRA

There’s been a lot of press recently about SAFRA, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act. When we began our campaign for Undergraduate Student Government office, we heard a lot of ideas and stories from students across campus — some students wanted Kanye West to come to ASU, some wanted two-hour parking meters.

The most affecting stories and ideas came from the students who can’t show up to the tuition hearing because they’re working two or three jobs, can’t get involved on campus because what little free time they have is dominated by homework. While we’re working on showcase events and different student initiatives, our main focus in the storm of budget cuts and the recession is financial aid.

SAFRA will create an estimated 1,000 extra Pell grants for Arizona students while also increasing the maximum financial aid award level. At its inception, the Pell grant covered 77 percent of the cost of a college education, now it only covers about 35 percent. In a time when students are graduating college with record levels of debt, this legislation is a great first step in making college more affordable.

SAFRA provides students with more options for college funding which helps eliminate some of the high interest loans provided by private banks.

Right now, the banking industry is running several multi-million dollar campaigns against the legislation and we’ve got to work together to make sure that SAFRA becomes law despite these attempts by the banking industry to keep college loans in their hands.

We’re asking you to come out to the north side of Memorial Union this Wednesday, Sept. 16, to write your congressman and ask them to support SAFRA. This is the first event of many in support of SAFRA. USG is working in conjunction with the Arizona Students Association ASA on this statewide campaign. To become more involved in the SAFRA campaign here at ASU, please contact ASA’s Tempe organizer, Joel Edman, at joel@azstudents.org.

Brendan O’Kelly

President, USG


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