As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, and the November 23 deadline for the Congressional Super Committee’s debt reduction recommendations, AIKCU is asking students, faculty, and staff to reach out to our elected officials in Washington to show thanks for federal financial aid and student loan programs.
These federal programs make college possible for thousands of AIKCU students. While there’s a common misconception that rich kids go to private colleges, in reality about half of AIKCU undergraduates receive Pell Grants, the federal grants that support students with the lowest incomes.
To emphasize the importance of federal aid to our students, AIKCU is organizing the Thank You for Educating Kentucky’s Future Campaign. AIKCU has developed thank you cards and distributed a stack of blank cards to each member campus. We’re asking each campus to appoint a coordinator to oversee this card-writing campaign — it can be an official from student affairs, financial aid, the legislative liaison, or representatives from student government. The coordinator is responsible for encouraging people from the campus community to write to senators and representatives, collecting the completed cards (keeping track of total numbers addressed to each Senator and Representative for AIKCU tracking purposes), and making sure the cards get mailed.
We don’t have a lot of time to lose, so we’re kicking off this thank you campaign this Friday, November 18. Once the cards are on campus, we’re counting on our members to mobilize your campus community to write these notes. Our goal is to show Kentucky’s elected officials in Washington D.C. and their staffs the importance of student financial aid to our students. We want stacks of these postcards to pile up in legislators’ mailboxes.
Thank you for your efforts to support student aid! Every voice (and card) counts!
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Questions you may have:
To whom should I write?
U.S. Senators: Every interested student, faculty, and staff member should try to write to both Senator Mitch McConnell and Senator Rand Paul. Campuses should have pre-addressed labels to affix to postcards addressed to Kentucky’s senators.
U.S. Representatives: Students should write to the U.S. Representative from their home district. You may also choose to write the representative serving your campus (if different than your home).
Kentucky Representatives:
- Rep. Ed Whitfield (1st District)
- Rep. Brett Guthrie (2nd District)
- Rep. John Yarmuth (3rd District)
- Rep. Geoff Davis (4th District)
- Rep. Hal Rogers (5th District)
- Rep. Ben Chandler (6th District)
If you’re not a Kentucky resident or you’re not sure who your Representative is, plug in your zip code to the congressional directory at Congress.org or Project Vote Smart.
What should my message say?
Messages should be short, hand-written (but legible), and indicate your appreciation for student financial aid (especially Pell) and student loan programs. Messages should be non-partisan and positive. Make sure to include the following:
- Name
- College or university’s name
- Role (student, faculty, staff, alum)
- A short thank you message focused on student aid (in your own words)
- Signature
- Hometown
Examples (don’t copy these – use your own words):
Dear Representative Guthrie:
Thank you for my Pell Grant. I’m a senior at _________ majoring in nursing.Without Pell my family would never have been able to afford the great education I’ve received here.
John Doe
Cave City
Dear Senator Paul:
I’m a faculty member at ____, where more than _____% of our students rely on Pell Grants. These are the future doctors, teachers, and business leaders who will shape the future of our region. Please continue to support these crucial student aid programs.
Sincerely,
Jane Doe, PhD
Dear Senator McConnell:
Thank you for supporting the Pell Grant program. As a single mom with a full-time job and two children to support, I wouldn’t have been able to go back to school and complete my degree without Pell grants and student loans. Today I have a new job in management and am proud to call myself a ______ graduate.
Sincerely,
Jim Doe
Hazard
What else can I do to support student financial aid at the federal level?
If you haven’t yet, sign on to the Student Aid Alliance’s Statement of Support for Student Aid
Make a quick video testimonial: Film a quick (:30 or so) thank you video using a cell phone or flip camera covering the same territory we’re asking you to cover in the thank you postcards. Post it to YouTube and tweet it to @aikcu or email it to mason.dyer [at] aikcu.org. We’ll feature it on our website and/or Facebook page.
Follow @aikcu and @StuAidAlliance on Twitter for the latest updates and calls to action on student aid.
Other questions we haven’t anticipated?
Give us a call at 502.695.5007 or email mason.dyer [at] aikcu.org