The 2024 elections, coming in less than a year, are set to be the most expensive electoral cycle in U.S history, with $10 billion (yes, with a B) being spent on TV ads alone. I’m not an economics major, but that seems like a heavy price tag, especially considering all the issues young people are facing- issues like rising prices, low wages, a growing climate crisis, student loan debt, gun violence, attacks on our reproductive rights, destructive overseas wars, and much more.

We should demand action on these issues from our leaders because our futures are at stake. I grew up watching my mom struggle to support myself and my brother. The minimum wage in Michigan is $9 an hour. That’s barely enough to cover rent, let alone send 2 kids to college. Fortunately, I was able to attend Oakland University tuition-free; but no family or parent or kid should have to face economic anxiety just to get a higher education. Our society should prioritize support for education and acknowledge the financial challenges that many families face. It’s not just my family, millions of others are struggling with the burdens of inflation and the growing cost of living. Our system should be able to support and adapt us through these changes. Lately, I’m tired of politicians telling me that my problems are too complicated or too expensive to fix.

We haven’t seen any action on all these critical issues, even though the majority of the country agrees that they should be solved. Why? Because we have a government that’s bought and sold out by the same corporate and special interests that can spend 10 billion dollars on political ads. They spend BILLIONS blocking progress on all the issues young people care about.

The silver lining is that we can do something about it. Our university administration has been spending $ 455,000 of our tuition money to influence lawmakers, acting just like billion-dollar corporations do! Right now our university is spending our tuition money to pass laws that benefit only themselves, not the students they are supposed to be assisting.

As individuals, we don’t have the leverage of a billion-dollar corporation, but as thousands of students at Oakland University, we do. If we students had a say in how our tuition money is spent, we can put the issues we care most about on the university’s spending agenda. This means that through the university we can better move our lawmakers to finally take action on pressing challenges, like gun violence and climate change. Our University has the opportunity and the responsibility to work with young people to ensure we have a government that prioritizes our needs.

That’s why I’m organizing with Un-PAC– a non-partisan student organization focused on empowering our generation to determine our own futures. By passing a set of Youth Power Reforms on campus we can make it easier and more accessible for students to vote while giving us the power we need to redefine this political landscape. This campaign is about our generation completely owning our political, voting, and economic power as students.

Our reforms would cancel classes on Election Day, ensure there’s a polling location right here on campus, and give us, students, a say in the university’s lobbying priorities. Our plan would uphold Oakland University as a beacon for youth power and more! 2024 is the year we stop relying on politicians to rescue us and step up to save ourselves.

I won’t lie and say that I’m not anxious about what the future holds, but if you ask me what I’d expect for the 2024 elections, I’d say: Expect to see young people on the ballot.

You can learn more about Un-PAC Oakland University and the work we’re doing via Instagram @un.pac.ou and sign the petition on our website!