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Students from the College of St. Scholastica who took part in the Day At The Capitol event got a chance to meet with state senators from the district they live in. Students take a bus to the capitol building every year from their respective private colleges to convey the importance of the Minnesota State Grant program to state legislators. This year the Minnesota State Grant program is up for debate for its continued funding.

Since the state of Minnesota is currently facing a $5 billion deficit, many programs will be brought up to be either slashed in funding or defunded permanently. With this in mind, CSS student senate continued its initiative to provide the Day At The Capitol event on Community Day in order for students to meet with state senators briefly and argue their case for the Minnesota State Grant.

State Sen. Tony Lourey of District 8 is very fond of the state grant program and regards highly of the effects it has on college students and their families.

Sen. Lourey said, "We need to have a commitment to make sure every individual in society is able to reach their full potential and that is the only way that we are going to be able to succeed in the future."
Sen. Lourey also said that a recent statistic showed that a high school student in the top quadrant of income and the lowest quadrant performance-wise is more likely to go to college than a high school student in the lowest quadrant of income and highest quadrant of performance in school.

In a closing remark Sen. Lourey claimed that if we do not make changes to this system, many students will face financing difficulties in the future.

Seth Wellnitz, a student senator at CSS, expressed in detail the importance of the Minnesota State Grant program to college debt. Wellnitz said, "The problem that your going to see is if students who graduate don't get jobs, their debt is going to come back on the district. This is a huge conglomerate that not only affects family-wise but locally-wise and District 8 is not a very wealthy district to begin with."
   
fter the students met with the senators, they got together for a senate panel to discuss the progress that was made in each discussion. Most students came back with a positive response from their senators.

President Larry Goodwin was also in attendance and thanked all the students for their participation in this vital cause.