Warner goes to Washington: Interim registrar takes AACRAO’s case to lawmakers

Interim University Registrar Beth Warner took the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s perspective on various higher education issues directly to lawmakers in Washington, D.C. in late July as part of the annual Congressional Hill Day organized by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO). Warner was one of 25 participants representing 24 institutions across 18 states who met with 90 Capitol Hill policymakers. Warner met with staff members in the offices of Representatives Bryan Steil, Mark Pocan and Gwen Moore, as well as Senators Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson. Warner and other AACRAO Hill Day delegates spent time building knowledge of the impacts of the FAFSA delay and the looming Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment reporting requirements on institutions and our students, as well as advocating for doubling of the current Pell grant, changes in how the proposed short-term Pell may be funded, and a new FERPA exemption that would allow seamless Reverse Transfer for community college students. She and her fellow advocates spent the day before their congressional meetings learning from AACRAO’s government relations team, former congressional legislative directors, and leaders of the Washington Higher Education Secretariat (WHES), the American Council on Education (ACE), and the American Association of State Colleges & Universities (AASCU). Warner indicated that the AACRAO did an exceptional job of preparing the Hill Day participants, allowing them to confidently discuss the issues. “I was honored to be able to represent our profession in advocating for issues that are of critical importance to higher education,” she says. “The unified voice that AACRAO helped us hone allowed me to not only share the perspective of UW–Madison but also highlight impacts on regional Universities of Wisconsin, our independent colleges and universities, and our technical college system. All of the staffers I met with were really engaged and interested in learning more about the issues from my practitioner’s perspective, and the energy of being ‘on the hill’ was definitely a better experience than the virtual advocacy event I was a part of in 2022.”