Student lobby group sets its
agenda for 1998 legislature

By Meghan Hughes
The Metropolitan

Members of a student lobbying group chose financial aid, tuition rates and student fees as their top priorities Nov. 16 at a meeting in the Tivoli.

The Colorado Student Association  is an non-profit organization that lobbies for student interests in the state legislature.

The group is supported by student fees from its 14 member institutions around the state. Colleges that are members of CSA pay a fee based on full-time student enrollment.

Metro pays approximately 50 cents for every full-time student enrolled, according to Tony Young, CSAâs director of campus affairs.

That comes to about $12,000 from Metro each year.

The organizationâs annual budget is about $89,000, said CSA Chairman Andy Nicholas. The budget pays for five staff members, rent for the CSA office and other operating costs.

CSA representatives hold one meeting each semester to nominate and introduce new representatives, as well as vote on and discuss platform issues which affect college students across Colorado.

The CSA board of directors, made up of one student from each institution, meets monthly at member campuses around the state.

Nicholas and Greg Benn, a fellow CSA representative, made a presentation endorsing lower tuition increases and more financial aid, two issues the CSA has been involved with on an ongoing basis.

According to the CSA 1996-97 Annual Report, the average statewide tuition for residents increased by 1.5 percent from the previous year. CSAâs lobbying efforts resulted in one of the lowest tuition increases in history last year, the report said.

The group named other goals at the meeting, including adding more resources for graduate and non-traditional students. These students need better child care and more financial aid, and graduate students need housing, the representatives agreed.

Colorado colleges need more money to build and maintain their campuses, and students should have more influence on that process, the representatives said.

The group also said Colorado colleges should make it easier to transfer course credit from one institution to another.

Metro is one of the largest members of CSA and has five student representatives. 

Metroâs representatives at this monthâs meeting were Chuck Bennett, student government representative to the college Board of Trustees; Krystal Bigley, Metroâs student Judicial Board chief justice; Sean Brailey, student government vice president of Administration and Finance; Matt Johnson, a representative on the Student Advisory Committee to the Auraria Board; and Nicholas.

Perry Swanson contributed to this story