Niagara University Students Take Financial Aid Message To Albany
A five-student delegation from Niagara University made a 300-mile trek to the New York State Capitol last week to speak with lawmakers about the importance of universal access to financial aid.
NU annually enlists a handful of students to participate in the New York Student Aid Alliance Advocacy Day, an initiative coordinated by the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities.
This year, Dominic Hannon, Mary McCormick, Aundrea Rogers, Christopher Rogers and Megan Ruh advocated on behalf of their classmates – and the nearly 300,000 students enrolled at independent institutions in New York – for the value of state-sponsored student aid programs.
At the forefront of the discussions that the NU students had with nine legislators and/or top legislative aides were the Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) and the NYS Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), in addition to the potential consequences of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Excelsior Scholarship Plan.
In each of the meetings, the students shared their personal stories of how access to undergraduate financial aid impacted their ability to attend an institution of higher education. They also emphasized expanding the availability of financial aid for all New York students, allowing them to choose to attend whichever college or university – public or private – best fits their academic, social and career interests.