Student voices often go unheeded in the state legislature, but the student governments of Pennsylvania's state-related schools are trying to band together and make themselves better heard.

The student governments of Penn State, Temple University, Lincoln University and the University of Pittsburgh -- Pennsylvania's four state-related institutions -- are forming the Alliance of Pennsylvania Student Governments to strengthen lobbying efforts, said Undergraduate Student Government President Mark Stewart.

State-related institutions have many similar goals, including lobbying for more funds, open university budgets and Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency grants for fifth-year students, Stewart said.

Together, the state-related schools can make more of an impact, said Colleen McCake, chairwoman of Pitt's Student Government Board's Governmental Relations Committee.

"If we all unify and get together it gives us a stronger voice in Harrisburg," McCake said.

But in some ways the schools differ, and so do their needs, said Bryan Bender, a member of Pitt's Student Government Board.

"There are obviously some things we aren't going to agree on," Bender said.

For example, Pitt students will lobby in Harrisburg on March 23 about a crime statistics bill that wouldn't greatly affect Penn State students, McCake said.

But the more student voices the alliance can represent on issues the universities agree on, the more effective lobbying efforts will be, Bender said.

Alliance members held an organizational meeting on Feb. 15 at Penn State. Representatives from the student governments of Pitt, Lincoln and Penn State attended the meeting along with representatives from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the current chancellor of the State System Higher Education Association -- an organization of Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned schools.

The alliance and SSHEA could work together on issues that affect them both, including state aid, Stewart said.

No representative from Temple attended the meeting because the date was inconvenient and Temple was not consulted about it, said Jim Cawley, speaker of the General Assembly of Temple's Student Government.

Temple is interested in the alliance and wants to be treated as an equal partner in making the decisions, Cawley said.

Stewart said he knows the differences can be worked out in the future, adding that the other schools had no trouble attending.

The next meeting, slated for March 28, will be held at Lincoln University near Philadelphia so it will be easier for Temple to attend, Stewart said.

Alliance members are planning their first lobbying trip to Harrisburg in April, Bender said.

Members hope to fill a bus with students from the various schools, Stewart said. SSHEA is planning a trip for April 7, and the alliance would like to go the day before, he added.