Temple Student Government is preparing to hold it’s third annual Owls on the Hill day in Harrisburg on Tuesday, March 19, along with what it hopes will be a record number of student attendees and the Office of Government, Community and Public Affairs.

TSG Student Body President David Lopez said that he hopes 100 to 150 students will show up for the event, and that 268 have already registered online. Lopez said that last year, about 70 students showed up out of a registration of 158.

To increase turnout, Lopez and TSG reached out to students at the Ambler Campus, as well as recent alumni.

While in Harrisburg students will be split into groups of 10 to 15 and  meet with state representatives or their staffs and share their Temple stories with the hope of encouraging state funding for the university.

To prepare for this year’s event, TSG founded the Owl Advocate Academy to train student leaders for the event. The 45 students who went through the academy this year will help lead the student groups that traverse the state capitol lobbying for higher education funds.

In February, Gov. Tom Corbett proposed to flat fund the university at $139.9 million, for the commonwealth’s 2013-14 fiscal year budget. The budget must still be passed by the State Senate and House of Representatives.

While Lopez said that the flat funding is better than the governor’s previous proposed cuts, TSG is not content with flat funding and will continue to fight for Temple’s funding.

TSG is still accepting registration for the event. Students who wish to do so can at http://www.temple.edu/government/onthehill/. Transportation and lunch are provided by TSG.