Students spent Wednesday and Thursday visiting the White House, the Department of Education and with representatives from their respective states.

Lipphardt said ASMSU representatives who arrived Monday night met with several legislators to advocate for the Big Ten and continued financial aid and research funding.

“We went to a reception with (U.S.) Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and met with her personally to discuss the writing and education issues specifically related to Pell Grant funding,” he said.

This is the first year of the Big Ten on the Hill advocacy effort. Michael Lipphardt, director of educational policy and university budgets, said the conference mostly was put together by the University of Nebraska.

“(It’s) a good will gesture as they are entering the Big Ten,” he said. “It’s the first time that all the Big Ten student governments have been down at the same time.”

Lipphardt said ASMSU typically allocates $6,000 early in the semester for a D.C. advocacy trip done on ASMSU’s own initiative. This year, however, ASMSU representatives joined with others for the conference.

Academic Assembly Interim Chairman Zach Taylor said this year, ASMSU lowered the allocated amount to $4,000. He estimated the total trip cost the organization less than $2,000 in paying for the attendees’ hotel, plane tickets, food and transportation costs.

Pell Grant funding was one of the Big Ten’s priority issues, said Lane Carr, a political science and history junior from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

“About 25,000 students in the Big Ten receive Pell Grants,” said Carr, who also is the student body president. “Yet we are potentially cutting them by 15 percent, which is incredibly harmful.”

Other issues Big Ten students are addressing include for-profit colleges and public access to federal research.

“There’s been a movement in the past … (that) would make it mandatory for all organizations that receive over $100 million in research to make that information available to the public,” Carr said.

Carl Fergus, a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying molecular biology and history, said Big Ten universities collectively receive more than $3.8 billion dollars in research.

“It’s really important for our school as a research university,” he said.

Lipphardt said it was beneficial for students to be able to discuss these issues face to face with legislators.

“It’s definitely a different perspective than they get on a day-to-day basis because we’re bringing a face to student issues,” he said.