By David R. Kazak

As SIUC students and spectators from around the region gather outside Pulliam Hall today to hear President Bill Clinton speak on financial aid, he will be meeting with 11 students from different regional colleges and universities to extract how students feel about the current federal aid situation.

Two SIUC student members of what White House officials are calling a roundtable discussion are Undergraduate Student Government President Duane Sherman and Black Graduate Student Association President Vanika Mock.

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The discussion is designed to give the president a forum for asking questions to students who receive federal aid and find out what works and what doesn’t, SIUC Financial Aid Director Pam Britton said.

Students will have the opportunity to ask the president questions and offer comments, but this is mostly a time for the president to ask the students questions, Britton said. This is going to be his roundtable.

White House Spokeswoman Laura Schwartz said this roundtable discussion will help the president decide what he should do to save federal aid programs, such as the Direct Student Loan Program, which was drafted by Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill. The DSLP is in danger of being eliminated by a Republican-led Congress which could cut $10.4 billion in aid in the next few weeks.

Generally, people are satisfied with the direct lending, Schwartz said. What it comes down to is this:Congress wants to balance the budget in eight years by cutting federal aid. The president wants to cut the budget in 10 and save federal aid.

Mock, a graduate student from Chicago working toward an MBA, said she cannot wait to talk to the president because she said she feels cutting aid will hurt black colleges and universities.

Of course cutting aid would hurt any university, but these proposed cuts will hurt minority colleges and universities greatly, she said.

The roundtable will provide Mock with an opportunity to bring what she learns back to her undergraduate alma mater, the University of Arkansas, where she said she has been invited to speak in five days about graduate student aid.

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Sherman, who was unavailable for comment, said to White House officials during his interview that he speaks highly of the direct lending process, believing it to be a right choice for SIUC because it is a student-friendly system.

Britton, who will also be a part of the roundtable discussion, said she was pleased to see that both an undergraduate and a graduate student from SIUC were selected for the roundtable. She also said she was pleased with the White House allowance that more than one student from SIUC could attend.

I was especially pleased because there’s only one student from each of the schools coming, she said.

Rick J. Collie, a nursing student from Anna, will be representing Shawnee Community College at the roundtable discussion.

I never expected to meet the president, Collie, 35, said. I’ve always thought I would know what to say to him if I ever met him. Now I am, and I don’t know what to say.

Despite initially not knowing what to say, Collie said he will have things to ask the president tomorrow especially when it comes to financial aid.

I would not be in school right now if it weren’t for federal aid, he said. I am very much an advocate of the Direct Student Loan Program. I am also concerned about the adult education program and I want to ask the president about it.

Britton, Collie and Mock all said they were excited about meeting the president. Britton said she received the same enthusiasm from all those she talked to preparing for the roundtable.

Also participating in today’s discussion:n Mary Armstrong, Eastern Illinois University

n Allison Crabtree, University of Kentucky

n Noemi Rivera-Morales, Indiana University

n Michelle Birch, University of Illinois at Springfield

n Angela Neal, Austin Peay University in Tennessee

n Valentin Vasquez, Knox College

n Ramon Blakely, SIUE

n Brian Szuda, Illinois State University