Change is almost certain to take place across college campuses in the U.S. as Donald Trump takes office next year.

In light of this change, two nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations, New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) and Young Invincibles, have joined forces to raise awareness and initiate change in higher education on college campuses across the country.

This cooperation comes at a good time, as new President-elect Donald Trump takes office at the start of next year. Every president introduces their own policies on educational reform, and Trump will most likely be no different.

During his campaign for president, Trump announced his ideas on reforming education. These reforms include loan repayments that are based on income and using federal financial aid to cover the costs of non-traditional education programs.

Young Invincibles, founded in 2009, is a national organization based in Washington, D.C., with the goal of working to engage young adults and students on issues that are prevalent on local and national levels. The organization was started as a forum for young people to get their voices heard in the health care debate. The organization has since included higher education into their initiatives after seeing the gap grow between student awareness and the education system

NYPIRG was founded in 1976 and has a chapter at SUNY Buffalo State that is working with Young Invincibles.

NYPIRG’s current chapter leader, Wes Thomas, acknowledges that joining forces with Young Invincibles will prove to be beneficial to college students.

“Young Invincibles’ mission coincides perfectly with NYPIRG, as we’re both non-partisan and have similar goals,” Thomas said.

The two organizations are working on an initiative that specifically targets student journalists on campuses across the country, from local to private colleges. They believe that these students are critical because they are the ones that speak not only to the student body, but for the student body.

Each campus in the country that has a student-run newspaper is likely to cover stories on things that impact their campus specifically. This is extremely important because national decisions, like the annual educational budget, trickle down to schools on a microscopic level.

“It’s one thing that a lot of students don’t know is such a big issue is the disinvestment in higher education,” Thomas said.

The federal higher education policy has a significant impact on college students across campuses. The policy affects federal financial aid, college accreditation, and the repayment of student debt. These are all facets of the college education system that students are sometimes uninformed about. The initiative between Young Invincibles and NYPIRG intends to get every student more informed about their higher education, what they’re paying for, and more importantly why they’re paying it.

“Students see the effects, but they don’t know why,” said Thomas when describing the ever-changing education policy in New York State.

NYPIRG has already made progress in improving the higher education policy right here in New York State. With the push from NYPIRG and other organizations, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a tuition freeze for all SUNY colleges that will last through the 2016-2017 school year.

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