Issues & AdvocacyFederal

AIAS Students Can Engage on Student Loans Too
By Amanda Stratton, Manager, Grassroots & Advocacy Outreach

We understand that AIAS members want to partake in the action alert regarding student loans, but they are not able to log into the Advocacy Action Center as they are not yet AIA members. However, AIAS members can still make their voice heard! In fact, you have three options to make sure your members of Congress hear from you about this and any other AIA issues:

1. You can submit your comments to your members of Congress directly via their comment forms on their official websites. You can find the website of your Representative at http://www.house.gov and the websites of your Senators at http://www.senate.gov. Not sure who your members of Congress are? You can find your Representative here and your Senators here.

2. You can also connect with your members of Congress via Twitter. Many times, doing so will allow you to have direct conversations with members and their staff about the issues you care about. To find a list of Twitter handles for members of Congress, click here.

3. Lastly, you can interact with your members of Congress via their official Facebook pages. Simply search for your member of Facebook to get started! One note: posting to your member’s Facebook page may require you to ‘Like’ the page before doing so.

We have included sample text for each contact method regarding the student loan issue below. Feel free to email us at govaffs@aia.org if you have any questions.

Sample Website Comment

The architecture profession has always been vital to the design and construction of America’s communities. However, the economic crisis, coupled with huge student loan debt, is causing many young architects to leave the profession.

While federal programs encourage medical, dental, legal and even veterinary school graduates to provide their services to underserved neighborhoods in exchange for student debt relief, architects are not able to reinvest in our neighborhoods with similar student loan assistance.

We can change this.

Congress can help invigorate our communities by allowing architecture graduates to participate in the same loan relief programs that other professions enjoy. Young architects can play a vital role in reimagining ways to best use our shared space and improve our community’s quality if they are given the chance.

The architecture community is willing and able to do more to help rebuild our economy. We need your support and the support of your colleagues in Congress to help push this idea forward and provide architects with the tools to help build towards the future.

Sample Tweet

Because of huge student loan debt, many young architects are leaving the profession. Please support debt relief programs for graduates!

Sample Facebook Post

The architecture profession has always been vital to the design and construction of America’s communities. However, the economic crisis, coupled with huge student loan debt, is causing many young architects to leave the profession. While federal programs encourage medical, dental, legal and even veterinary school graduates to provide their services to underserved neighborhoods in exchange for student debt relief, architects are not able to reinvest in our neighborhoods with similar student loan assistance. Congress can help invigorate our communities by allowing architecture graduates to participate in the same loan relief programs that other professions enjoy. Young architects can play a vital role in reimagining ways to best use our shared space and improve our community’s quality if they are given the chance. Please support debit relief programs for young architects to help build a better future!

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