An ISU political activism group, ActivUs, is helping coordinate a nationwide call-in to members of Congress to oppose the education cuts that are being proposed in the U.S. Congress.

Mara Spooner, president of ActivUs and senior in anthropology, is trying to raise awareness about the proposed education cut that could potentially reduce student financial aid by $9 billion.

ActivUs is promoting a nationwide event in protest of the cut. Throughout October, there will be “call-in dates” when students will call their senators or representatives and voice their concerns with the education cut.

“Students will call their congresspeople and urge them to vote against the cut,” Spooner said.

She said their immediate goal is to raise awareness of the financial aid cut and to inform students of the effects this cut would have on them.

ActivUs got the information about the nationwide event while recently establishing itself as a student organization on campus.

“While we were working on that, we made lots of connections and heard about the event,” Spooner said.

The budget-cutting process is not simple, however.

Angela Kuck, communications director for the U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee, said there has not been a student aid cut proposed by the budget committee – rather, the budget committee, which is chaired by Rep. Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, instructed other committees to perform “budget reconciliation” to reduce mandatory spending – one of those committees is the education committee.

“They have instructions to find x amount of savings in programs under their jurisdiction,” Kuck said, adding that Nussle does not have authority over where the education committee chooses to find savings, which is done at its own discretion.

Any cuts to financial aid will not be reported to the budget committee until Oct. 28, Kuck said.

Roberta Johnson, director of financial aid, said preliminary evaluation of the education cut suggests Iowa State will lose about $56,000. Most of the money that will be lost will affect work-study programs and supplemental educational opportunity grants, Johnson said.

“We will have some students we won’t be able to help,” she said.

Johnson said, however, the number of students that will be affected is nowhere near as many as initially feared.

She said the education cut signifies a reduction in gift aid and work study, and students will have more debt on their financial aid packages. This could potentially affect enrollment, she said, although it can’t be known exactly how much.

Johnson said students who cover all of their college expenses with loans are usually students who did not file their FAFSA before March 31, or their families have been determined to have the financial resources to cover the expenses.