One of Associated Students Inc.’s top goals for the spring semester is to work with state legislators and the Alliance for the CSU to protect the quality and affordability of the CSU.

ASI President Miguel Cervantes also said the student government plans to promote an environmentally friendly campus by encouraging alternative transportation and work with University Recycling to get more recycling bins. ASI was able to get 25 more recycling bins in the 2008 fall semester and plans to secure more in the spring.

Sacramento State’s California Faculty Association chapter vice president Kevin Wehr said that the CFA and ASI are trying to keep tuition increases from happening.

“We are working to influence lawmakers to not cut the CSU,” Wehr said.

ASI is collaborating with the California State Student Association to protect the affordability, accessibility and quality of California’s higher education system, Cervantes said.

“At Sac State, ASI will be meeting with members of the legislature in a statewide effort to increase the funding of the CSU system,” he said.

In his budget proposal for 2009-2010, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed to eliminate the Competitive Cal Grant that will affect many low to middle income students. According to the California Faculty Association overview of the governor’s budget proposal, 20,000 eligible CSU students did not receive Cal Grants in 2008.

Financial Aid director Craig Yamamoto said that cutting Cal Grants will negatively affect students who need to use those funds to help pay for their college expenses. Cal Grants cover the CSU State University Fee amount for CSU students.

“Under the Governor’s proposal, the Cal Grants will be separated from the state university fee and will be set to a maximum of $3,240 regardless of any enrollment fee increases,” Yamamoto said. In the 2008-2009 school , a full-time student paid $3,048 for the state university fee.

Stacy Hayano, the university budget officer, said that the first allocation of Cal Grant Awards A and B for Sac State have been distributed to the students for the spring semester as scheduled.

Academic affairs vice president Kathryn Kay said ASI is a member of the CSSA that is made up of 23 CSU student governments and recently passed a resolution in opposition to the governor’s budget proposal.

“Our Office of Governmental Affairs has sent meeting requests to members of the legislature. We are currently waiting for a reply on when those times will be,” Kay said.

Sarah Couch, ASI’s director of undeclared students, said ASI plans to start a ‘Hornet Pride day’ on Wednesdays when students will wear green.

ASI is also launching a marketing campaign to demonstrate how ASI programs and services are connected. The student relations committee will continue working towards serving the student needs by surveying and analyzing the responses.

Executive Vice President Roberto Torres said that ASI made a goal to register 5,000 students to vote in the 2008 presidential election. ASI could only get about 1,500 students to register because most students were already registered to vote.

Torres said that ASI wants to continue registering students who are 18 and older to vote in California.

Hayano said that the campus is working on a budget strategy through the University Budget Advisory Committee and will review the incoming sources, such as fees against the university’s salaries and operating expenses to determine whether the financial status is surplus or deficit.

ASI is waiting for the new budget proposal and depending on the effects to the CSU, Cervantes said. ASI, along with CSSA, will then formulate a budget strategy that will contain grassroots organizing, such as letter writing campaigns, educational forums, phone calling and other efforts to protect the CSU.

“We can expect an increase in drop-out rates or part-time students. This could also extend the average amount of years it takes for a student to graduate,” Cervantes said.

Kay said that ASI would like to increase voter participation by five percent from last year in the upcoming ASI elections.

“We also want to encourage more students to run for student government. Our Office of Governmental Affairs will be holding election informational to encourage participation,” she said.

Torres believes ASI is only as strong as the students involved.

“It is extremely important for students to get involved, to call us up and tell us their stories, so we can go to the legislators,” he said.

Catherine Robledo can be reached at [email protected]