Members of the University of Wisconsin’s student government weighed ways to improve the UW System-wide Lobby Day, following last week’s event at the Wisconsin Capitol.

In a meeting Monday, the Associated Students of Madison’s Legislative Affairs Committee met to reflect on their recent Lobby Day and discuss future lobbying projects.

Last week, students gathered at the Capitol and pushed for legislators to communicate more with the UW System and get more involved with education initiatives.

“They were definitely very receptive of what we were saying,” said committee member Meghan Wagner. “However, in the future it would be beneficial to look into dates more. It was difficult to get staff members to give us the legislators’ opinions on the issues.”

In addition to Lobby Day, the student government discussed their new lobby project. Legislative Affairs Chair Hannah Somers is urging members to get out and lobby in the next two weeks on a issue they feel is important.

“There are a lot of issues we didn’t get to this year,” Somers said. “Talk to someone in the state Capitol, city hall, someone on the county board, anyone. This is a chance for you to lobby on an issue that matters to you.”

While brainstorming possible lobbying issues, there were several that came to the forefront of the debate, with education and tuition costs as a major concern of students.

“On the state level we need to talk about education. Not just higher education, but education in general, especially early childhood education, which doesn’t get enough attention,” Lauren Shimanovsky, a committee member, said.

Additionally, Wagner said tuition costs are extremely important to students. Tuition caps are an important topic because they keep college costs down and continue to make education more affordable, she said.

The Alcohol License Density Ordinance, which puts a cap on how many bars are allowed in downtown Madison, is also set to be on Legislative Affairs’ upcoming agenda, Shared Governance Chair Beth Huang said.

“This also brings up the need for more 18-plus venues in the city,” committee member Mudit Kackar said.

More 18-plus venues would likely lower the amount of underage drinking on campus and give students a place to go and something to do on the weekends, Kackar said.

Huang said increasing voter turnout is also important in getting students involved in local affairs.

“To increase voter turnout, we could move the polling place from the fire station to the Fluno Center,” Huang said. “It would be significantly easier for students to reach.”

Currently, polls are held off campus at a Madison Fire Department station. Huang said for many students this location is out of the way.

Additionally, Huang raised current issues with transportation.

“Right now you pay for 15 percent of campus routes,” Huang said. “The administration assumes it will go up to 80 percent by this year. They’ve been putting money into reserve. They have about $2 million when it costs $1 million to do.”