Attendance at Regent’s Day at the Iowa State Capitol building should be mandatory for ISU students. Why, you might wonder? Because, from 1997 to 2007, according to the ISU Government of the Student Body, total cost of attending Iowa State has increased more than 71 percent, including a tuition and fees increase of 119.1 percent. In part, because of those increases, ISU students today owe an average debt upon graduation of about $30,000.

GSB is taking a leading role in addressing the issue. Representatives of GSB, the ISU Ambassadors, have been working with university administrators, students, the Iowa Board of Regents and our elected state legislators to address one of the biggest problems facing ISU students.

One of the most effective ways to deal with the problem would be if thousands of students would descend on the Iowa State Capitol to ask our elected officials to maintain public funding support for the Iowa regents’ institutions, such as Iowa State, while helping to improve student financial assistance programs.

There is power in many students acting together on this important issue. Join those who have already decided to attend on Thursday. The Ambassadors have made arrangements for buses to leave from the ISU Memorial Union at 11 a.m. This is a university-sanctioned event and you may be officially be excused from classes for the trip.

Decide today to join with other ISU students.