Fullerton : 2 Cal State Students to Lobby for College Loans

Two Cal State Fullerton student government leaders will be among 17 students from the California State University system leaving Sunday for Washington to lobby congressmen next week to vote against proposed reductions in student loans.

Budget cuts mandated by the new Gramm-Rudman-Hollings balanced-budget law will make it necessary to cut back, or possibly eliminate, some federal aid to students, the Reagan Administration has said.

The Cal State Fullerton students who are going to Washington are Tracey Stotz, 22, of Yorba Linda, president of the campus’ student government, and John Burick, 23, of Santa Cruz, vice chairman of the California State Students Assn. The association is composed of student leaders from all 19 campuses of the California State University system.

Stotz and Burick said they and the other 15 CSU students will visit offices of congressmen and senators all next week.

“We’re not trying to derail the balanced-budget amendment, because we’re very much in support of it,” Burick said. He added, however, that the students believe that the proposed cuts may unfairly fall on student aid.

“About one-third of the students at Cal State Fullerton, and one-third in the CSU system, receive some form of federal financial aid,” Burick said. “If students lose this aid, many from middle-income families won’t be able to go to CSU. It’s very expensive to go to school in California, mainly because of the housing. We don’t have on-campus housing at Cal State Fullerton.”

Said Stotz: “A lot of students could be hurt severely (by the proposed cuts). Loss of student aid could eliminate a lot of minority students from access to the campus.”

The CSU students’ costs for their week in Washington will be paid for by their campuses’ respective Associated Students, which are the student governments. They are scheduled to return to California next Saturday.