Regent Students Take a Stand against National Debt

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Graduate students at Regent University are taking a stand against America's growing debt.

A group of graduate government students joined the national "It's Up to Us" competition that is raising awareness of the nation's $18 trillion debt.

Students hope that educating more people in their generation on the issue will bring it to the forefront and encourage lawmakers to stop spending in the red with the national budget.

Dr. Eric Patterson, dean of the Robertson School of Government, is concerned with the coming issues his students will face if the government doesn't start balancing the budget.

"The problem for the younger generation of adults is what they're going to face is rising taxes and a decline in services over time," Patterson said.

Although the campaign is sponsored by the Clinton Global Initiative, Patterson said the issue is non-partisan.

"This is really a non-partisan thing to bring students from across the country to a level of awareness about the national debt," he said. "This is not a Republican issue, it's not a Democrat issue. It's really an American issue and that's the way that we've played it here with our team at Regent."

Regent's "It's Up to Us" team currently ranks fourth place in the competition. Two leaders of the team, Juliana Melton and Chase Bond, said it's vital their fellow students understand the issue and get involved.

"Our generation needs to be aware of our government's national debt," Bond, the team's leader, said. "I believe that they need to know that the government needs to be held accountable for fiscal responsibility and that they need to address not just balancing the budget but trying to reduce it."

On Thursdsay the campaign culminates with an all day event called My Two Cents Day. Students will host a panel of speakers who are experts on the national debt and they will have a money simulation demonstration to really bring home the severity of this issue.

Students have until 11:59 p.m. Thursday to get enough signatures to win the coveted first place title.

Regent is competing with 46 other schools, including some Ivy Leagues. To support the Regent Team, visit the It's Up to Us website and sign the pledge.