COPUS, the Coalition of Private University Students, was a financial aid advocacy group that was formed in the mid 1970s when a coalition of college students across the country joined together to address financial aid issues. The group's immediate goals in the 1970s were to uphold the gains that middle- and low-income students made during the 1960s. Exclusionary economics in the 1970s made it more difficult for these students to afford high priced state schools and independent schools. Thus COPUS became active throughout campuses to make sure the goals of the 1960s were upheld through the 1970's. Their activism became more involved in government policy towards the late 1970s through the mid 1980s.

In 1983, while President Ronald Reagan was in office, billions in federal funds were cut for financial aid for students attending private universities. In response, COPUS began to apply political pressure to oppose the budget cut. This cut threatened enrollment in private universities and students felt that they had a right to federal aid to private universities if qualified. Students sought to halt the budget cut so as to reinstate eligibility of lower income students to attend private universities.

COPUS members at Wesleyan University were particularly passionate about the subject of aid-blind admissions and federal financial aid because of the social-activist history at Wesleyan. The curriculum, resources, and ideology of Wesleyan, as well as the diversity of its student population, had all been reshaped in the 1960s. COPUS members believed that if federal financial aid were to cease to exist, it would compromise the ideal of Wesleyan University as a diverse place for higher learning. This threat, along with the fact that many students studying at the time were being directly affected by this policy, caused Wesleyan students to become very concerned with the federal financial aid budget cuts.

In 1982 and 1983, hundreds of Wesleyan students participated in rallies in Washington, D.C. on National Student Lobbying Day. These rallies were considered successful, yet the budget cut was still under consideration. Wesleyan COPUS members gained support from both Wesleyan faculty and Democratic senators and representatives. Supporters of COPUS called for their elected representatives to lobby for the cause on behalf of students. The group was so involved in lobbyist activities, they even wrote to President Reagan himself At a rally in front of Davenport Campus Center, COPUS members displayed photos in the year book in which they had stamped withdrawn for financial reasons over the faces of students who were not able to graduate due to financial aid cuts. A copy of this yearbook was sent directly to President Reagan to emphasize that the future of higher education was at stake.