University of Washington students Sasha Glenn and Steve Xu report on a recent campus panel that focused on student debt and the role it is now playing in today’s politics.

Earlier this month, students from UW Seattle, UW Tacoma, and Bellevue College gathered in Odegaard Undergraduate Library for a roundtable discussion hosted by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) to talk about their personal experiences dealing with student debt.

Cantwell is one of 39 co-sponsors of Senate Bill 2432, an amendment to the 1965 Higher Education Act that will allow borrowers of both federal and private undergraduate student loans to refinance at rates as low as 3.86 percent with no refinancing fees.

…Hailey Badger, incoming ASUW Director of University Affairs, said in a follow-up interview that Cantwell’s visit at the roundtable implies the issue of student debt is being seriously considered in Olympia. However, she said the proposed student debt refinancing bill would have more of an impact on those who have already graduated.

“We want to address the issue at the root, which is by making the need to take out loans less,” Badger said.

Badger explained the importance of state funding programs, such as the State Need Grant.

“Tuition needs to be lower than it is, but until that happens we need more funding from the state,” Badger said. “When the state was putting in more money, it was funding students 70 percent and now it only funds students 30 percent. The decrease in state funding especially affects middle-class families, who don’t receive much financial aid but also can’t afford the cost of education out-of-pocket.”

On June 3, the ASUW Student Debt Reduction Working Group released their first report titled, “Meet Us in the Middle: Affordability for the Working Student.” The Working Group was formed in the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year to investigate ways to reduce student debt at the UW.

“We really wanted to get a picture of what student debt looked like at the UW,” said Badger, who is a member of the Working Group.

Badger explained that the group’s research looked at both numbers and stories, while also focusing on the ability to work within the current financial aid model.

According to the UW Undergraduate Admissions website, an in-state student living away from home would need to pay a total estimated $27,034 a year to attend school at the UW, which includes tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, personal expenses, and transportation.

…“The biggest takeaway from our report is that we want legislators to meet us in the middle,” said Adison Richards, an outgoing member of the working group. “We want our state and the university to make it affordable to pay for college by working through school again.” Richards did not participate in the roundtable.