The National College Attainment Network (NCAN) hosted its inaugural Leadership Summit in Washington, DC, March 31-April 1, 2025. Through numerous panels with higher education leaders
and meetings with federal representatives and policymakers, attendees felt empowered and excited to speak up and share their thoughts and feelings on the current state of higher education.
Some attendees were students, who came along either with their school or nonprofit organization. Student voices are powerful and have shaped higher education discourse throughout US history. When students receive platforms to share their opinions on advocacy,
college access, and equity and access, they can provide a fresh perspective on why higher education is important and impacts communities across racial, socioeconomic, and geographic boundaries.
We had a chance to chat with Reyhan Kilic, a freshman at the University of Texas-Austin; Shayla Ashton, a junior at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg, VA); and Morgan Washington, a student at Howard University (Washington,
DC), about their backgrounds, interests, and dreams, as well as policy and advocacy. We thank the students for taking time out of their busy schedules to speak with NCAN.
Note: Quotes have been edited for clarity
How did you become involved in advocacy? Is this your first time engaging in something like this? If so, how did you come to know about this opportunity?
Kilic, Ashton, and Washington cited their educational and personal backgrounds as reasons why they attended the Leadership Summit. Kilic talked about the privilege she held as a student at UT-Austin and the need for her to advocate for others. She said
she was relatively new to advocacy but had been to a few conferences related to education advocacy and awareness.
Kilic: “I thought it was important to bring the torch and advocate for others that needed help.”
Ashton discussed being a part of a scholarship foundation that supports families from low- and middle-income backgrounds and first-generation students and her desire to share her stories. She also said she attended the Leadership Summit to talk about
the necessity of scholarship programs, like the one she is a part of, to support students in their college attainment journeys.
Ashton: “We're here to share our stories about where we came from and our family, some of them who are immigrants, as well as some who didn't go to college as a first-generation person.”
Washington said she has been a student voice advocate since her senior year of high school. She took on leadership roles with the clubs she was affiliated with but wanted to expand her advocacy at the Leadership Summit as her school invited her to attend.
Washington: “I felt I had to step up, express my opinions. What brought me here was the school that I graduated from, they invited me to be in this space and learn more about the student life.”
What are the causes you are advocating for today and tomorrow?
Kilic, Ashton, and Washington all said financial aid was the biggest cause they wanted to advocate for. Morgan recognized the obstacles that Black and Brown students face in obtaining proper financial aid and wished for more opportunities to financial
college support.
Washington: “We all deserve education and we deserve a chance to want better ourselves.”
Ashton agreed and said that her scholarship was the main reason why she is able to attend college, despite her at-home community being predominantly low-income and most of her community members not having a college degree. She wanted greater access to
programs that assist K-12 students in their college attainment journeys.
Ashton: “I'm from a low-income area, so a lot of people where I'm from didn't go to college because they couldn't afford it and they didn't really think that they could afford it. I'm only in college right now because of the scholarship that I got.”
Kilic, similarly to Washington and Ashton, said financial aid and the Pell Grant were her most urgent causes. She said she supports programs that “connect and unite people for the education system that is being damaged currently,” especially for first-generation
and first-time college students.
As you're engaging in talks these two days, are there stories or people in mind that you are hoping to advocate for?
The three students shared a mix of advancing existing college access programs and advocating for education in their responses. Kilic, a current participant in an AmeriCorps program, specifically Breakthrough Collaborative,
shared her experiences chatting with her sister, a member of the GEAR UP program at UT-Austin, and learning more about the importance of college access organizations in supporting students’ desires to reach higher education.
Kilic: “It's thinking about those students that don't have as many opportunities and didn't get the chance that I got or my sister got to advance her education.”
Ashton said she did not have a specific policy in mind at the moment of the interview, as long as she could advocate for people’s personal stories and help people fill out the FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
Ashton: “Me and my other friends were talking earlier about having families who don't have any college experience at all, or immigrant families where you don't know how to fill out the FAFSA, or you don't have the necessary tools.”
Washington affirmed Ashton and said she expresses sympathy for low-income households and households of color. Kilic added on and said it is crucial for students to advocate for what’s important, despite the world’s challenges.
Kilic: “It doesn't matter because if you want to do right, if you want to help people and if you see your success and you're like, ‘I'm successful, I was able to take the next step,’ it's important to advocate for yourself and be like, ‘Look, I did this, and other people can too.’”
How have recent events related to federal and state K-12 and higher education policy impacted the causes that you plan to advocate for?
All three students noted funding and economic inequities as ways that recent changes to federal and state K-12 and higher education policies will impact their advocacy work. Washington dove into geographical and disability inequities and expressed worry
for how students who come from rural areas, like herself, or have a disability will enter college under the recent higher education policy changes. According to her, cuts in higher education will make attending a US college more financially difficult.
Washington: “I know back home for me, like a rural area, I know it's definitely going to affect where I'm from resource-wise because, especially all special education students, and other small programs to help people who have disabilities, are definitely going to take a hit.”
Washington also shared worry about the socioeconomic inequities that will come about with the new policy changes to higher education. She said that families from higher-income backgrounds will be the only folx able to attend college with the new policy
changes and families from low-income backgrounds will suffer.
Washington: “When you feed the privilege too much that's all we're going to have left and then everyone else is just going to be just left out.”
Similarly to Ashton and Washington, Kilic called out the growing socioeconomic gap in higher education and the recent slash in funding to the US Department of Education sends a message that students do not have power. She said it is challenging to be
a student because students are losing their freedom of speech and need to keep fighting for what they have. But she pleaded for students to continue fighting because, “even if it's going to make a small difference, it's still something because maybe
no one is going to do it. If we don't do it, who's going to do it?”
Kilic: “I'm a Texan, I'm here and I'm advocating for us because we deserve it. Listen to me as a student.”
How are you feeling leading up to Hill Day? Are you nervous, excited, a little bit of both?
The students’ emotions leading up to Hill Day ranged from nervousness to excitement. Ashton said that while she felt a little nervous because this experience was very novel, she felt ready to share her personal stories and understand why her stories connect
with people across ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. She appreciated the opportunity to chat with folx who were also passionate about higher education.
Ashton: “It’s also important for me to learn how to convey my stories of my own personal experiences, as well as you know why it affects people like myself and other different ethnic and income groups.”
Kilic said she was proud of herself for attending the Leadership Summit and felt excited about Hill Day because she always wanted to go to Washington, DC. She recognized she was in a group that supported each other despite their individual political affiliations.
She said she wants people regardless of political beliefs to unite but recognizes it is difficult to do that with the current media landscape.
Kilic: “It's really important for everyone to see that we're in this together. If you're not in the top one or 10, 20% in the US, we're all in the same boat.”
Washington felt both excited and nervous for the opportunity to visit the Hill because, as a first-year college student, she celebrates her ability to advocate at the Capitol for the first time. She said she will use this opportunity to expand her public
speaking and advocacy skills.
Washington: “Not a lot of people get this opportunity and, thankfully with me being a first-year, I get this opportunity to go to the Capitol and advocate.”
What do you hope to bring back to your campus in terms of knowledge from this summit?
Kilic, Ashton, and Washington were excited to bring skills and perspectives back to their respective campuses after the Leadership Summit. Kilic said she was excited to bring back new experiences and be more open-minded to folx from different parts of
the world. She was also excited to improve her leadership and communications skills while being hopeful of her community’s new leaders.
Kilic: I would hope to bring back new perspectives and another open-minded experience, seeing that even though you're in one place or one situation doesn't mean the entire world or US is like that."
Ashton agreed with Kilic and said she became more open-minded to people of different political beliefs and wants to bring compassion and legislative skills back to her campus.
Ashton: “Bringing that back with telling other people, ‘Hey, think about it away from the political party and just think of us as both people and we both want the same end goal.’”
Washington agreed with Kilic and Ashton and said she would like to give everyone hope. As a student at a historically Black college and university (HBCU), she said everyone thinks HBCUs will struggle but she encourages people to, “use your speech, your
voice is important, and it's special and use it because...we just need to come together and we just need our voices to be heard.”
Kilic continued and said she looks up to leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X and quoted the latter's words of how if you do not stand for something, then you will fall for anything. She called for a need for leaders who help people fight
for human rights.
Ashton also said that the people whose voices needed to be heard were not necessarily present at the Leadership Summit, but she and other attendees can return back to their campuses and advocate for their voices.
Is there anything else you would like to share with us or any questions that haven’t been asked?
Kilic and Ashton called for more people to continue advocating for what they believe in through stronger media. Kilic wanted more people to speak out about issues they were passionate about because once people begin advocating, then more people will see
their advocacy work and also want to organize.
Kilic: “What we stand for is so important.”
Ashton said what people do not change is what people are choosing to continue to exist. If people are not proactive about changing governmental actions, then change will not happen, she said. Ashton wanted a stronger push for advocacy and legislative
organizing because, as Kilic similarly said, if one person advocates, then another person may join.
Ashton: “Once you talk about it, somebody else might get compelled to talk about it and start writing a letter to somebody or talking to their local legislation.”
Students rarely have opportunities to express their opinions on the current state of higher education and why their voices are important. When community organizers and elected officials come to students to hear their concerns, they will learn something
new that they cannot hear from adult leaders, whether that is a personal story or a call to action.
Special thanks to Elizabeth Wood, former NCAN Program Fellow, for interviewing the students and helping write this article.
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