Community colleges have long been engines of opportunity. Every day, they prepare students to become nurses, teachers, entrepreneurs, engineers, public servants and business leaders. Yet colleges do something else that deserves equal attention. They prepare students to become informed, engaged citizens who know how to influence the decisions that shape their lives.
When legislation affecting higher education is under consideration, colleges, associations and advocacy organizations all play important roles in informing policymakers. Yet there is another voice that deserves to be part of the conversation: the students whose lives will be most directly affected.
This summer, as Congress considered funding for the Pell Grant program, Phi Theta Kappa tried a different approach. Rather than speaking for students, we first listened to them by surveying thousands of Pell Grant recipients from all 50 states.
What happened next confirmed something we have seen for years. When students are given an opportunity to lead, they do.
Within 48 hours, more than 2,600 verified Pell Grant recipients from community colleges across the country shared their experiences. Their responses became the foundation of PTK’s letter to Congress and inspired thousands of students to send letters of their own. What began as an advocacy effort quickly became something larger: a model that any college can use to help students engage in the public issues that affect their lives.
A framework for student-centered advocacy
Advocacy can be taught. Colleges are experts at teaching about democracy, but do we also teach students how to participate in it? Through our work with students, Phi Theta Kappa developed a practical framework for elevating advocacy from politics to pedagogy.
Step 1: Listen to the students
Don’t begin with an opinion. Begin with a question. Ask students how a proposed policy would affect their lives. Not how it affects the institution, but how it affects them.
Our survey revealed that nearly half of Pell recipients said they would stop attending college if Pell Grant funding were reduced. Suddenly, the conversation wasn’t about appropriations. It was about students’ futures.
Step 2: Advocate as an institution
Students’ voices should inform institutional advocacy. Focus groups, interviews and surveys provide evidence. Student experiences provide context. Together, they create a compelling case for policymakers.
Whether the issue is financial aid, transfer, workforce development or student basic needs, colleges have an important role to play in communicating both the evidence and the human impact behind it. When institutions advocate using evidence grounded in students’ lived experiences, they speak with both credibility and authenticity.
We synthesized what students told us into a letter to Congress that reflected their collective experience rather than institutional assumptions.
Step 3: Equip students to tell their own stories
Institutional advocacy is powerful. Student advocacy is personal. Together, they are transformative. Once your institution has spoken, help students speak for themselves. Provide the resources, sample language and confidence they need to contact policymakers directly. Many students want to participate in the democratic process. They simply have never been shown how.
For our Pell advocacy initiative, we invited students to visit our Advocacy Center, where they could personalize a letter in their own words. Using the nonpartisan platform Democracy.io, students were able to send their letters directly to their U.S. senators and representative in just a few minutes.
In the days that followed, students began emailing me copies of the letters they had written. Many included a simple message: “Thank you. I wanted to do something, but I didn’t know how.” Those emails reminded me that advocacy is not an instinct. It is a skill. And like leadership, communication, or critical thinking, it can be taught.
Why this matters
We often measure student success by graduation, transfer, employment or earnings. Those outcomes matter. But we should also celebrate the first time a student realizes that their voice belongs in the conversation.
One of the most valuable things colleges can teach isn’t just civic engagement as a concept, but civic participation as a skill. When students learn how to engage constructively with public policy, they discover that their experiences matter, their perspectives have value and their voices can make a difference.
When colleges teach students how to advocate for themselves and for others, they aren’t just preparing graduates. They’re strengthening democracy itself.
About Phi Theta Kappa
Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) is the first honor society recognizing the academic achievement of students at associate degree-granting colleges and helping them grow as scholars and leaders. PTK is the largest honor society in higher education, with more than 4.4 million members and nearly 1,250 chapters in 11 countries, including approximately 220,000 active members in the nation’s colleges. Learn more at ptk.org.
