United States Student Association

The United States Student Association (USSA) is an American national student advocacy association. It serves as the national student government representing postsecondary students in the United States and is recognized by the Global Student Forum.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

History

The organization was born in August 1978 during a joint meeting between the National Student Association (NSA), formed in 1947,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the National Student Lobby (NSL), itself originally born of a split in 1971 with the NSA.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The membership of both organizations voted overwhelmingly to merge due to overlapping lobbying work and student-government-based membership.<ref name=NSA-history>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> The merger saw the NSL absorbed by the NSA, and the NSA renamed as the USSA; no new entity was created.<ref>Template:Harvnb "Formally the merger was accomplished by absorbing NSL into NSA — the delegates to the conference amended NSA’s governing documents, rather than creating a new entity. They banned proxy voting in the new group, after nodding to NSL’s sensitivities by requiring that legislative stands be approved by a 60% super-majority vote in the plenary. And they gave the new organization its new name — The United States Student Association."</ref>

By the mid-1980s, the USSA met annually in Washington, D.C., with several hundred students attending.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In the early 1990s, the USSA advocated on behalf of students being eligible for credit cards and beginning to build credit.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It also advocated against rising college tuition costs.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Following a period of inactivity from the late 2010s to the mid-2020s,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the USSA was revived by representatives from US student governments from around the country in 2025, with the USSA organizing a conference that same year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Oregon Student Association
• Jobs with Justice
• Student/Farmworker Alliance