The Undergraduate Student Government Relations Committee began a three-day letter writing campaign on Monday for students to write Ohio representatives and senators in hopes of gaining money to help lower tuition for higher education.

“Our mission is to empower students and give them the resources for effective and defective advocacy and to show policy makers that higher education is important to students,” said Adam Barbina, a director of the Government Relations Committee.

The committee has had tables, staffed by members of USG, set up at the Ohio Union and Independence Hall from noon to 6 p.m. until today, Barbina said. On Monday the group also had tables set up on 15th and High Street.

Lowering tuition is the top issue for USG, said Aftab Pureval, president of USG.

“We are lobbying and working very hard to make students’ voices heard downtown,” Pureval said.

The campaign allows students to put their own perspective on the increase in tuition, Barbina said. A letter written by a student is more effective because carbon-copied letters do not work.

Students participating in the campaign are given a form that states information relating to the recent increase in tuition and the decrease in state funding, said Deb Mason, vice president of USG. Students have been encouraged to write personal stories on how the changes have affected them.

The campaign is a good way to let the state representatives and senators know students are paying attention to what is happening at the university, Mason said.

The committee has also been handing out lists of state representatives and district maps to students in an effort to get them to continue lobbying their representatives and senators, Mason said.

Students have been encouraged to continue writing letters and e-mails in addition to making phone calls to encourage their state legislators to give more money to higher education, Pureval said.

In USG’s attempt to push for more funding, the Government Relations Committee has also sent representatives to speak to the House of Representatives on the rise in tuition costs, Mason said.

The campaign is an extension of the efforts by USG’s Buckeye Advocates, which Barbina said was created on the entire initiative to form solid relationships with state legislators.

The committee has seen a good turnout since Monday with around 75 -100 letters written yesterday, Barbino said.