Students Protecting and Representing Education, or SPARE, has gone interactive.

SPARE, a student organization focused on combating possible university cuts and tuition increases, has put its message out on the World Wide Web - hoping students will log on and sign up.

"We should be taken seriously, and this is a great way to disseminate information," international relations junior Ahmed Baset said.

Baset, a SPARE member, said the group's purpose is directed at all Michigan students, and the Web site is a great tool for them to learn about the group.

"SPARE is representative of everyone," he said.

Baset also is the director of legislative affairs for ASMSU, MSU's undergraduate student government.

SPARE's goal is to make sure higher education is a priority to legislators and administrators during Michigan's budget crisis.

With Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposed 2003-04 budget cutting 6.5 percent from higher education, MSU officials will be deciding on ways to manage through hard times in the coming months - possibly cutting programs and raising tuition.

The SPARE Web site went live before spring break and allows viewers to read the group's mission statement and sign up to show student support for the group. A form letter for students to e-mail their legislators also will be added to the Web site.

"We're getting 200 people a day," Baset said. Students who sign their name on the petition will not receive junk mail, he said.

"It's just a petition to say this is how many people support (the group)," Baset said.

International relations senior Matt Clayson said the group is also looking at putting on the Web site event dates and information on how to get involved.

"We don't have to waste a bunch of paper," Clayson said.

Psychology junior Kara Devlieger said she heard about the group from her roommate and wanted to show her support by signing the petition.

"(The Web site) is a good way to participate," she said.

Devlieger said tuition increases are a concern for everyone, but students also should be mindful of what university cuts could mean to the quality of higher education.

"Overall that would lessen the quality," she said. "We're going to graduate, and it could be viewed (that) our degrees wouldn't have the value that they would.

"I want my degree to be valuable."

For information on SPARE, visit www.sparehighereducation.org