Student Leaders Across America Engaged Policymakers, Peers on Pressing Fiscal Challenges 

NEW YORK (March 6, 2024) – With the national debt surpassing $34 trillion, interest costs rising to record highs, and growing support for a bipartisan fiscal commission, college students across America are advocating for a more sustainable federal budget. Student leaders from the University of Notre Dame won the 12th annual Up to Us Campus Competition for their creative campaign to raise awareness among their peers and engage policymakers on the need to build a stronger future for the next generation. 

Over 100 leaders, including students from 92 universities and colleges as well as other participants, attended this year’s Up to Us Leadership Bootcamp.

In this blog, we bring you the must-read highlights. Read on to find out more!

The Clinton Global Initiative University is the student version of the successful Clinton Global Initiative, which brings together world leaders to take action on global challenges. Each year, CGI U hosts a similar meeting for students, faculty and admin, topic experts, and celebrities to discuss global issues around five focus areas: Education, Environment and Climate change, Peace and Human Rights, Poverty Alleviation, and Public Health. This year, the 10th CGI U meeting took place October 13-15 at Northeastern University in Boston, MA and featured a former Up to Us winner as a speaker!

In August 2025, the federal government’s outstanding public debt passed $37 trillion for the first time in history. But what does public debt mean? And have you ever seen different numbers for how high the national debt is? That is because there are actually three different widely used measurements for the national debt. No matter which measurement you look at, the number is dangerously high, but there are important differences to understand.  

Did you know that more than half of millennials consider themselves activists? Education, wages, health care and the economy are among the top issues millennials care about, Young adults are changing what activism looks like. Seventy percent of them believe they can create change, and as a whole, millennials want to address important issues while avoiding conflicts.