After nearly two years of anticipation, the federal textbook price
disclosure law that passed
in 2008 officially goes into effect today. This law is a
tremendous step forward in the fight for textbook affordability, because
it empowers both students and professors to save money on textbooks.
Here's a quick summary of what this law means:
First, publishers are now required to give
professors detailed information about textbook prices and revision
histories, including the dates of the last 3 editions and a list of
alternate formats. Publishers
often withheld this information, hoping professors would choose
more expensive books. Getting these details on the table will make it
easier to identify and select lower-cost options.
Second, publishers are required to sell the
components of bundled textbooks separately, so students have the option
to buy their books without unnecessary CDs, workbooks and online
pass-codes.
Third, colleges need to list the required textbooks
for each course in the catalog students use to register. That way,
students know what they're getting into, and they have more time to shop
around.
The law will save money for some students right away - the new
information will help some professors choose
less expensive books, and savvy students will have more time to track down the best
deals. Over time, the law will have even greater benefits on
textbook costs. Increased transparency will build economic pressure on
publishers, which will pave the way for competition and
eventually force them to offer more affordable options.
For more information about the new federal textbooks law, click here.
Today, Facebook announced
new privacy controls in response to recent complaints that their
settings are too complicated. The new, simpler, controls will be rolled
out over the next few weeks. Good, but not good enough.
You should
be the one to control what information you share, not
Facebook. Even with the new settings, Facebook will still share your information
with other companies without asking your permission first.
With their new "instant
personalization" program Facebook is sharing your information with
companies like Microsoft and Yelp, and probably more to come, without
your permission.
You can block this new program, but only by changing several of your settings.
This
is ridiculous. Facebook should ask your permission before they share
information about you or your friends with other companies.
I want control of my information, and I want my information safe
and secure. There are already reports
of security holes with "instant personalization" sites that have
made personal information accessible to hackers.
The update from Haiti is hopeful - as they move into the long-term
rebuilding effort, Oxfam's team has started focusing on cash-for-work
programs that employ Haitians to build shelters and other facilities to
aid displaced people.
Part of the money volunteers are raising
through our Hunger Cleanup will go to fund this
program as well as buy supplies for the continued efforts on the ground.
Every
donation, no matter what the size, will make a difference. So far
volunteers have raised over $20,000 through donations from their friends
and family.
You can help support these programs for displaced
and homeless people in Haiti as well as people in your own community by
asking friends and family members to make
a donation on the Hunger Cleanup website.
On March 25th, Congress passed the Student Aid and Fiscal
Responsibility Act, which will increase financial aid for students by
$61 billion. The President will sign the bill into law early next week.
The law increases the maximum Pell
Grant to
$5,975 by 2017 so that more students can attend College without the
looming
threat of crushing debt. The law also
expands the Income Based Repayment program which will allow over one
million
additional students the ability to manage their debt load after
graduation.
And perhaps best of all, it won't cost taxpayers a dime because it's
funded by cutting wasteful hand-outs to banks and loan companies like
Sallie Mae and Citibank. By ending these corporate hand-outs, Congress
voted to support students, not Wall Street banks.
COPIRG's staff and students spent years working to demonstrate the need to end wasteful loan subsidies to lenders
through research
and our Student
Debt Alert campaign. To all of you over the years who shared your
loan debt stories, thank you. You helped elevate the profile of this
issue into something that politicians felt the need to do something
about.
You can read more about the final vote in this
New York Times story, which includes a quote from Rich Williams, COPIRG’s
federal higher education advocate.
Until
today, it was perfectly legal for credit card companies to profit by
tricking people into paying late and then tripling the interest rate on
their balances.
Not anymore.
The Credit CARD Act
goes into effect today and includes this and other protections from
abusive practices the banks have used to rip us off. It also offers
college students additional special protections. Click here to read what's in it for you.
Students
have an average of almost $3,000 in credit card debt when they graduate
college. We use credit cards to pay for textbooks, transportation, and
even tuition. Banks have used aggressive marketing tactics and abusive
terms and conditions to trap us into deep credit card debt. According
to Inside Higher Ed,
the new law "Includes a set of changes aimed at protecting young
consumers -- and in some cases college students specifically -- from
excessive credit card debt." U.S. News and World Report explains that young consumers are "coveted" by banks and credit card companies.
It
was the outcry of students like you that passed this law, and the banks
aren't happy about it - this is the first time in 40 years any law
opposed by credit card companies has passed!
Having
high-speed rail connecting all the major cities throughout the country
would help our economy by providing thousands of sustainable jobs,
reduce carbon emissions that cause global warming, clear up highway
congestion, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and improve our
quality of life.
It's
going to take a long-term commitment from our local and national
leaders to plan and fund a national rail system. As we rebuild our
transportation system, let's make sure we do it right.
Haiti
just experienced a massive earthquake. We don't yet know the full
ramifications of this disaster, but the people of Haiti will need help
from around the world to meet both their immediate needs and the long
term effort to rebuild homes, schools, hospitals and cities.
Our
Hunger and Homelessness campaign will be holding fundraisers on
campuses in the months ahead to make sure organizations on the ground
have the resources to get food, medicine and supplies to the people
that need them.
Sign up to volunteer and help fundraise on your campus here.
It's easy to organize a fundraiser on campus. Learn how by downloading our Response Kit.
Donations
are urgently needed - right now, we're recommending people direct
donations to our friends at Oxfam through their website http://oxfamamerica.org. Oxfam has four offices in Haiti and over 200 highly-experienced aid workers.
Please contact the staff of the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness with questions at Natalie@studentsagainsthunger.org.
A
handful of PIRG students attended last Wednesday's forum at the White
House on global warming and clean energy. The forum gave young people a
chance to speak directly to administration officials, including Ken
Salazar (Secretary of the Interior), Hilda Solis (Secretary of Labor),
Steven
Chu (Secretary of Energy), Lisa Jackson (EPA Administrator), and Nancy
Sutley
(chair of the White House's Council on Environmental Quality).
In his State of the Union
Speech last night, President Obama recommitted to an increased
investment in higher education, reaffirming that investment in higher
education is essential to our country’s recovery and long-term
strength.
Obama urged Congress to increase Pell grants by passing the
Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), help students better
manage their crushing debt loads, and create a $10,000 education tax
credit.
The passage of SAFRA will increase the Pell grant
(the government’s need-based financial aid program) by at least $40
billion dollars by eliminating wasteful, unwarranted subsidies to banks
and lenders, and redirecting the money to students.
President
Obama also called for an expansion of the federal Income Based
Repayment program to help students manage their rapidly increasing
debt. His proposal would cap students' monthly federal loan repayments
at 10% of their discretionary income and forgive their federal debt
after 20 years or repayment.
Increased tuition costs have
resulted in students and families over-relying on loans to pay for
college. In 2008 students graduated with an average of a $23,200 in
student loan debt. Too many students can't go to college because of the
costs, don't graduate because their debt gets so high they have to drop
out, or after graduation have to put off marriage, children, and home
purchase because of their crushing debt. On campuses across
the country, Student PIRGs' student interns and volunteers are working
to raise the alarm on student debt.
Ralph Nader was the featured speaker at the "Spotlight on Health Care" symposium hosted by the CoPIRG student chapter at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The symposium was held to provide young people with the knowledge and skills necessary to play an active role in reshaping the current health care system. http://www.coloradodaily.com/news/2009/apr/16/ralph-nader-hank-brown-cu-colorado-boulder/
The Obama administration last Thursday called a "time-out" on new road-building in nearly 50 million acres of our national forests. Despite President Obama's promise to protect these forests and restore the 2001 Roadless Rule, Bush-era officials still working at the U.S. Forest Service had been moving to allow the timber, mining and oil industries access to roadless areas within the system. On May 28, the Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, ordered that these forests be protected from road building. Now we're pushing for permanent protection of these places through full restoration of the Roadless Rule.
President Obama recently signed into law strong legislation, called the “Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act”, that will halt the most egregious abuses by the credit card industry. This is a big victory for students and all consumers.
This is a big victory for students and all consumers! We've been
working on this issue for a while now – working on campus to educate
students and others about bad credit card practices, plus the report we
issued last year, The Credit Card Trap.
For too long, owning a credit card company has been a license to
steal. Over the last few years, the banks increased their use of
abusive tactics, such as changing due dates so they could trick
consumers into paying late. Worse, they charged a double whammy for
paying late - a high late fee first and then tripled interest rates of
36% APR or more. They also started charging good customers higher rates
because they supposedly paid some other creditor late (this is called
"universal default"). And when that wasn’t enough, they started raising
the rates of good customers for no reason at all.
These rip-offs have finally caught up with them. Gouging everyone,
even good customers who paid on time, caused thousands and thousands of
people who just want a fair deal to contact Congress and the Federal
Reserve.
The CARD bill doesn't fix everything, but it does eliminate a lot of unfair practices, including:
Credit card issuers could not extend
credit to consumers under the age of 21 unless the person has an
independent means to repay the loan, or has a cosigner with such
ability. That’s the same way other adults are treated. Consumers under
the age of 21 could choose whether to receive credit card
solicitations.
Restricts credit card companies from
giving away free gifts on or near campus and requires disclosure of
credit card company exclusive marketing arrangements with colleges.
Unjustified and retroactive interest
charges. Card companies could not hike interest rates retroactively on
balances accrued before a rate increase takes effect (with minor
exceptions) unless the cardholder is more than 60 days late in paying a
bill. If such interest rate increases occur, they must lower the rate
after six months of on-time payments. Card companies would not be able
to raise interest rates in the first year after a card account is
opened.
Universal default on existing balances.
Credit card issuers could not increase a cardholder's interest rate on
existing balances based on negative information about other bills
unrelated to their credit card.
Excessive and growing penalty fees.
Penalty fees would have to be reasonable and proportional to the late
or over-limit violation. Card issuers could not charge over-limit fees
unless the cardholder has agreed to allow over-limit transactions.
Unfair billing practices. Card companies could not charge interest on any portion of a balance that is paid by the due date.
Pay-to-Pay. Card companies could not
charge customers a fee to pay their bill, except for expedited service
provided by a service representative.
The new law also reins in the deceptive
marketing of freecreditreport.com—those commercials may be funny, but
the credit reports aren’t free.
Passage of this historic credit card reform legislation will stop
big credit card companies - many of which are benefiting from TARP
funds - from cheating Americans out of their hard-earned money.
After Congressman Jared Polis' presentation 2/16/08 at CU-Boulder on the Stimulus
package to be signed 2/17 by President Obama in nearby Denver, he
accepts a sheaf of Valentine's cards from COPIRG, the Colorado Public
Interest Group.
A series about the surge in consumer debt and the lenders who made it possible.
Colleges Profit as Banks Market Credit Cards to Students
Bank of America employees on the campus of Michigan State University in
East Lansing, Mich., offered give-aways like water bottles, backpacks,
games and other items, trying to persuade students to sign up for
credit cards and other banking services.
EAST LANSING, Mich. — When Ryan T. Muneio was tailgating with his parents at a Michigan State football game this fall, he noticed a big tent emblazoned with a Bank of America
logo. Inside, bank representatives were offering free T-shirts and
other merchandise to those who applied for credit cards and other
banking products.
Fabrizio Costantini for The New York Times
Bank of America employees on the Michigan State campus offered
giveaways like water bottles, backpacks and games to persuade students
to apply for credit cards and other bank services.
“They did a good job,” Mr. Muneio, 21 and a junior at Michigan State, said of the tactic. “It was good advertising.”
Bank of America’s relationship with the university extends well beyond
marketing at sports events. The bank has an $8.4 million, seven-year
contract with Michigan State giving it access to students’ names and
addresses and use of the university’s logo. The more students who take
the banks’ credit cards, the more money the university gets. Under
certain circumstances, Michigan State even stands to receive more money
if students carry a balance on these cards.
Hundreds of colleges
have contracts with lenders. But at a time of rising concern about
student debt — and overall consumer debt — the arrangements have
sounded alarm bells, and some student groups are starting to push back.
The relationships are reminiscent of those uncovered two years ago between student loan companies and universities. In those, some lenders offered universities an incentive to steer potential borrowers their way.
Here at Michigan State, the editors of the student newspaper wrote
this fall that “it doesn’t take a giant leap for someone to ask why the
university should encourage responsible spending when it receives a cut
of every purchase.”
At Arizona State University,
students set up a table on campus last spring to warn of the danger of
debt and urge students to support limits on on-campus marketing.
The
contracts, whose terms vary but usually involve payments to colleges or
alumni associations that agree to provide lists of students’ names,
have come under harsh criticism in Washington.
“That is absolutely outrageous, the sharing of students’ information with the banks,” Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, Democrat of New York, who oversaw a June hearing on campus credit card marketing, said in a recent interview. “That should be outlawed.”
Fabrizio Costantini for The New York Times
A Fifth Third Bank display offered bottles of water, tuition raffles
and a bicycle as an inducement to get incoming freshmen at Michigan
State University to open credit card and other accounts.
College
campuses are one place that young Americans are introduced to credit
and the possibility of spending beyond their means, a problem now
confronting the nation as a whole. For banks, the relationships are a
golden marketing opportunity. For colleges, they are a revenue source
at a time of declining public funding. And for students, they help pay
the bills and allow more shopping.
But debt incurred in college becomes a serious burden at graduation, especially in a recession in which jobs are scarce. A survey of more than 1,500 college students by US PIRG
in Washington found that two-thirds had at least one credit card.
Seniors with balances had an average debt of $2,623 on their cards.
University officials say that their agreements with card issuers comply with the law and bring in valuable revenue.
“It
provides money for scholarships and other programs,” said Terry R.
Livermore, manager of licensing programs at Michigan State. He said
that the program was aimed primarily at alumni and the university would
not include sharing student information in future credit card
contracts. “The students are such a minuscule portion of this program.”
Jennifer
Holsman, executive director of the alumni association at Arizona State,
said the association tried to teach students about responsible uses of
credit. “We work closely with Bank of America to provide educational
seminars to students in terms of being able to get information about
how to pay off credit cards, how not to keep balances,” she said.
Credit card issuers say that they try to educate students to use cards
responsibly and that the cards they offer on campus have more
restrictive terms than cards offered to alumni.
“The available
credit for undergraduates is capped at $2,500,” said Betty Riess, a
spokeswoman for Bank of America. “We want to take a fair and
responsible approach to lending because we want to build the foundation
for a longer-term banking relationship.”
Ms. Riess said the bank
had agreements with about 700 colleges and alumni associations, making
it one of the biggest, if not the biggest, card issuer on campuses. She
said that only 2 percent of the open accounts under those agreements
belonged to students, but also said it was not possible to determine
what percentage of program revenue resulted from fees and charges on
those student cards.
Stephanie Jacobson, a spokeswoman for JPMorgan Chase,
wrote in an e-mail message that the bank had fewer than 25 contracts
with colleges or alumni associations and that while some of the
contracts gave it the right to ask for and use lists of student names
and addresses, the bank had not done so since 2007.
That may be
because football games present a marketing opportunity that requires no
address information. Abigail D. Molina, a second-year law student at
the University of Oregon, applied in 2007 for a Chase Visa offered at a tent outside a football game. In exchange, she received a blanket.
I mostly wanted the blanket,” Ms. Molina said. She added that this
was her second university credit card. In 1994, when she was an
undergraduate at the university, she applied for a card at a booth on
campus and then accumulated about $30,000 in debt, almost all of it on
the card. In 2001 she filed for bankruptcy. Looking back, she said it
was “shockingly easy” to get the card, even as a first-year student.
Mr. Muneio, the Michigan
State student, said he did not apply for a Bank of America card because
he already had two Visa cards. “The last thing I need is another
account to keep track of.”
Many students are unaware of the
contracts that universities have with credit card issuers and do not
question the presence of marketers on campus or applications in their
mailboxes, despite recent protests on a few campuses.
Sometimes,
the contracts have confidentiality provisions. Universities may try to
distance themselves, stating that the contracts are only between alumni
associations and banks. But the universities provide alumni groups with
lists of current students’ names, addresses and telephone numbers,
which the groups pass on to banks.
The New York Times obtained
information about and, in some cases, copies of contracts between
lenders, public colleges and their alumni associations using open
records requests. Because private colleges are not subject to open
records laws, they are not included.
While most universities contacted for this article did not provide detailed financial information on the contracts — the University of Pittsburgh, for example, confirmed only that it had an agreement — two did share numbers.
The alumni association of the University of Michigan
is guaranteed $25.5 million over the term of its 11-year agreement with
Bank of America. Under the agreement, the association agreed to provide
lists of names and addresses of students, alumni, faculty, staff,
donors and holders of season tickets to athletic events.
Much
of the money goes toward scholarships, said Jerry Sigler, vice
president and chief financial officer of the alumni association. He was
unsure what students were told about the program.
“Students are
generally told how they can opt out of having their information
publicly displayed in directories or provided in response to requests
like this,” Mr. Sigler added. “But it’s not to my knowledge specific to
the credit card program.”
Michigan State University gets $1.2
million a year but is guaranteed at least $8.4 million over seven
years, according to its agreement. The contract calls for a $1 royalty
to the university for every new card account that remains open for at
least 90 days, $3 for every card whose holder pays an annual fee, and a
payment of a half percent of the amount of all retail purchases using
the cards.
For cards that do not have an annual fee, the bank
pays $3 if the holder has a balance at the end of the 12th month after
opening an account, a provision that appears to give the university an
incentive to get cardholders into debt.
A few schools have adopted policies that prohibit sharing student contact information.
Ball
State University’s alumni association, which has a contract with
JPMorgan Chase, does not provide information on students, said Ed
Shipley, executive director of the association. “Who we market to is
our alumni because that’s our purpose,” he said. However, the bank is
permitted to set up marketing tables at athletic events.
The
University of Oregon, whose alumni association also has a marketing
agreement with Chase, stopped providing student addresses as concern
grew about student debt, according to Julie Brown, a university
spokeswoman. The university still permits marketing booths at athletic
events.
Some research suggests that students may be using credit
cards less frequently, in favor of debit cards linked to their bank
accounts. A survey last spring by Student Monitor, a Ridgewood, N.J.,
company that tracks trends on campus, found that 59 percent of
undergraduate students had debit cards, up from 51 percent in 2000.
But
universities have arrangements with banks that offer debit cards too,
perhaps raising some of the same issues that the credit card deals do.
At New Mexico State University, for example, students are given the option of opening a bank account with Wells Fargo if they want to convert their campus identification into a debit card.
The
accounts are not mandatory, said Angela Throneberry, assistant vice
president for auxiliary services at the university. But, she said,
“There’s some revenue sharing that happens as part of this.”
A version of this article appeared in print on January 1, 2009, on page B1 of the New York edition.
On September 7th, 2007, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed
the College Cost Reduction and Access Act by broad bipartisan votes of 79 to 12
and 292 to 97 respectively. The bill now goes to the President who has said he
will sign the legislation into law.
The College Cost Reduction and Access Act is the most meaningful higher
education reform in more than 15 years. The bill addresses the financial
challenges of access and affordability that face American college students. It
provides billions of dollars a year in additional grant aid to low-income
students through the Pell Grant program. It will also help students address the
burden of rising student debt through lower interest rates and a new repayment
system.
The bill also trims excessive subsidies that benefit a handful of banks and
directs them to millions of students and families who are working to pay for
college.
The College Cost Reduction and Access Act will:
Increase the maximum Pell
Grant award by $490 for each of the next two school years, by $690 for the
following two school years and by $1,090 for each following year. The Pell
Grant is the nation’s premier college access program, providing grants to
5 million low-income students each year. The maximum Pell Grant is
currently $4,310.
Create an income-based
repayment program that allows borrowers to repay their loans as a
percentage of their income. This new program will protect borrowers with
low salaries from having to make unmanageable payments. As a result
students will be able to make employment and life decisions based on their
values rather than the volume of their debt.
Reduce interest rates on
student loans for more than 5 million low and middle-income student
borrowers receiving subsidized Stafford
loans.
Finance increased education
spending by reducing subsidies to student lenders. Lenders will receive a
reduced rate of return for offering federal student loans and a slightly
reduced reinsurance rate from the federal government. As a result, the
increased grant aid and loan benefits will have no additional cost to
taxpayers.
Add this to
the list of the country's financial woes: Credit card companies are aggressively
targeting college students, many of whom are naïve about money matters and
vulnerable to predatory offers that can get them permanently mired in debt.
According to an eye-opening survey by the
United States Public Interest Research Group, or U.S. PIRG, which is an advocacy
organization, some students reported receiving hundreds of credit card offers in
a year. The report also described how companies lure cash-starved students with
gifts of clothing and free food. In one flagrant case in Ohio, students who showed
up for the food were required to fill out credit card applications before they
could eat.
A
half-dozen states have placed restrictions on how credit cards can be marketed
at public colleges. Congress is considering sensible bills that would restrict
the amount of credit and the number of cards that students could be offered.
Lawmakers should also focus on the lucrative and often secret deals that
universities and their alumni associations regularly cut with credit card
companies.
Those deals
— which resemble the now outlawed student loan kickback deals — often grant
companies the exclusive right to market to a college’s students. In some cases,
the colleges get a cut of what the students spend, which makes the school a
partner in the plundering of young peoples’ meager assets.
Congress
must insist that these deals be made public and universities and alumni groups
must insist that students be given fair deals from credit card companies.
With
financing from the Ford Foundation, U.S. PIRG has begun a national campaign
urging schools to adopt some common-sense principles that would help shield
students from credit card marketers and financial ruin.
The group
calls on universities to stop selling the names and contact information of
currently enrolled students to credit card marketers. It also says that schools
should ban marketers from using gifts to entice students to sign up for credit
cards, and it urges schools to do more to educate students on managing debt
responsibly.
Most
importantly, the group calls on schools that still decide to cut deals to only
do business with credit card companies that steer clear of commonly used but
unscrupulous credit card terms that take advantage of students. That means an
end to hidden fees or unreasonable penalties, including universal default, under
which interest rates go up when the customer fails to pay a bill not related to
the credit card account.
Schools
need to reform their credit card practices. If they don’t move quickly,
lawmakers must do it for them.
On Election Day in Boulder, student voter turnout increased by 239% from the last midterm election.
New Voters Project volunteers contacted 4,495 students who pledged to vote. Volunteers phonebanked, spoke to classes, chalked, postered, trick'or'treated, canvassed, all in an effort to prepare the campus for election day.
It worked.
The buzz on campus yesterday was about voting. The Project had a table set up outside the UMC to target student voters with questions. Students came to the table, pulled out their cell phones, and called the county clerk to find their polling place. They headed off to cast their ballots equipped with a poster filled with helpful phone numbers, directions, and proper identification information.
Those who were turned away from polling places because of id issues were not detered; they patiently corrected the problem, returned to the poll boasting proper id, and waited to vote.
Across campus, CU students who had already voted were greeted by New Voters Project volunteers who handed them a t-shirt, a sticker, and three phone numbers of other students who wanted to be reminded to vote! Professors sought out Project volunteers to get information to give to their classes. Staff across campus agreed to wear VOTE stickers to help remind students to vote.
The Project volunteers made it clear that they did not care how students voted, just that students voted. "It's time for politicians to pay attention to us."
The New Voters Project is currently examining ways to make voting easier for students as they shift focus to youth voter mobilization in 2008...
New Voters Project: Coordinator
Drew Hazouri and core volunteers Danielle Ziff and Hailee Kohler drove
a great effort to register 1,490 people to vote here at Auraria this
fall. We then contacted 2,574 people in the week before the election to
remind them to get out and vote. Our efforts paid off with long lines
all day long at our on-campus polling location. Election day itself was
a lot of fun, as we joined up with the CU Denver student government on
their Rock da Vote Party complete with live music, a DJ, and plenty of
excitement about voting.
Campus Climate Challenge: Clean
energy and sustainability are big buzz words on the Auraria campus
nowadays, thanks in large part to the huge Sustainable Campus Fair put
on by the Campus Climate Challenge in conjunction with the campus
Student Activities Offices in November. Coordinators Lindsey Gavioli
and Shaun Lally made sure that nobody on campus could miss the event,
which included four showings of An Inconvenient Truth and a
panel discussion about global warming chaired by Senator Gary Hart.
Lindsey also made a presentation at the latest Auraria Board meeting
proposing that the campus allow the installation of a 750 kilowatt
solar array on campus. If approved, this will be the largest solar
project on any college campus outside the state of California. Lindsey
and CU Denver graduate student Andy Pattison are still working to make
sure the Board appro ves the project at their December 20th meeting. To
sign an on-line petition in favor of this project, go to: http://www.copirgstudents.org/action/solar
Hunger and Homelessness: This
semester's hunger campaign, led by coordinator Danielle Ziff, organized
a Trick-or-Can food drive on Halloween night. More than 25 volunteers
collected over 20 boxes of canned food for the Denver Rescue Mission
along with almost $250 in cash and check donations by going door to
door in the Cherry Creek neighborhood. Additionally, as part of Hunger
and Homelessness Awareness Week, two speakers from the Denver Rescue
Mission came to speak with students on campus.
Student Debt and Textbooks: This
semester, Coordinator Stephanie Overbeck has worked to develop a plan
and potential budget for a textbook rental program. This program would
help students save money on textbooks by letting them rent, rather than
purchase, their books for a number of classes. CoPIRG Student Chapters
plan to bring this program to campus over the course of the next year.
In the spring of 2004 the Clean Energy Fee was successfully
passed by the Auraria Campus student body. The new student fee was created for
the explicit purpose of “purchasing clean renewable electrical power for the
Auraria Campus from August 23, 2004
through May 12, 2007”. This
fee program has been successful in making the Auraria Campus a leader across
the state and the nation in the purchase of renewable energy. SACAB is
asking for approval of an increase to $5 per student, and the extension of the
fee to be placed on the ballot for student vote April, 2007.
A team of 22 Climate Action volunteers ran a drive to collect
comments to Chancellor Bud Peterson, requesting that he sign a
committment to make this campus a leader in reducing our impact on
global warming. The team gathered more than 700 requests from CU
students in less than a week.
The effort was part
of a nationwide Climate Action week, during which the Campus Climate
Challenge worked alongside Program Council to bring a free showing of An Inconvenient Truth
to more than two hundred students on this campus. In answer to Al
Gore's documentary on global warming, two Climate Action interns
constructed a short film, A Convenient Truth, listing easy ways
for individuals to reduce their daily impact on global warming. House
Majority Leader Alice Madden, and Senator Ron Tupa were featured in the
film.
Dan Omasta, Colorado Campaign Coordinator, COPIRGs’ New Voters Project, (303) 573-0610, Sujatha Jahagirdar, Student PIRGs’ New Voters Project Program Director, 323-309-6120, sujatha@studentpirgs.org
New Report Predicts Global Warming Disastrous for National Parks Youth on the Campaign Trail to Ask Presidential Candidates: What’s Your Plan?
On the heels of a new report
that predicts disastrous consequences for the country’s national parks
as a result of global warming, young people in Chicago and throughout
the country are bringing their concerns about global warming directly
to all of the Presidential candidates.
“Global warming will
have a huge impact on the world that I inherit.” said Dan Omasta,
regional What’s Your Plan? campaign coordinator. “It is very important
to me to know what all of the candidates’ plans are to deal with this
problem.”
This weekend young people will be hot on the trail
of Mitt Romney as he attends an event at the Brown Palace Hotel at
12:00 pm in Denver tomorrow to ask him “What’s Your Plan to stop global
warming? (See below for times and locations) Students will also trail
Governor Romney at events in Iowa, Senator Barack Obama in Chicago and
all the candidates at the debate in Charleston, South Carolina.
The
question that students will pose to candidates this weekend is part of
a new national campaign called What’s Your Plan? that calls upon all
the Presidential hopefuls to pay attention to young people and address
key youth issues such as global warming, college affordability, health
care, and financial security.
Since the campaign launch, young
people have spoken to almost all of the Presidential candidates
including: Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Barack Obama, John Edwards,
Duncan Hunter, John Cox, Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd, John McCain,
Tommy Thompson, Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, Hillary Clinton, Sam
Brownback, Mike Huckabee and Joe Biden. See photo gallery
The
new report, released by the nonprofit National Parks Conservation
Association, highlights the possibility of more wildfires in Yosemite,
flooding in the Everglades, and disrupted ecosystems in the Smoky
Mountains as a result of global warming. “With more floods, drought,
and air pollution, global warming will have enormous consequences for
the word young people will inherit,” stated Sujatha Jahagirdar, the
Student PIRGs’ New Voters Project Program Director. ”Young people are
very aware of this fact and are more interested than ever in how the
candidates plan to tackle this problem.”
According to a recent poll
published by the New York Times, 58 percent of young people say that
they are paying attention to the 2008 elections, compared to just 35
percent at this point in 2004.
The Student PIRGs predict that
youth voter turnout will continue to increase in 2008 – and if the
candidates offer up detailed policies on youth-specific issues and
communicate them directly to young people, young people will vote even
more.
# # #
The Colorado Student
Public Interest Research Group (CoPIRG) is a non-partisan, student
directed, state-based organizations that works to solve public interest
problems related to the environment, consumer protection and government
reform. www.copirgstudents.org
What’s
Your Plan? is a project of the Student PIRGs’ New Voters Project and
allied youth organizations. Since 2003, the project registered more
than 600,000 young voters and made more than 650,000 personalized Get
Out the Vote contacts leading up to Election Day to turn out young
voters. www.whats-your-plan.org
CoPIRG Student Chapters released the "Campus Credit Card Trap" report,
which outlined the unfair marketing practices of the credit industry.
Students overwhelmingly support limits on campus credit card marketing,
according to the results of the nationwide USPIRG survey of more than
1500 students at 40 colleges in 14 states.
The average student
receives nearly 5 credit card offers a month and nearly two in three
students reported that they had at least one credit card. Fifty-five
percent of cardholding students said they used their card for
day-to-day expenses. Reflecting escalating college costs, 55 percent
said they charge their books and nearly one-quarter said they pay their
tuition with a card. On average, freshmen had a balance of $1,301 and
seniors had more than twice that, $2,623.
Credit cards are
marketed to students using free gifts and introductory teaser rates.
The use of aggressive marketing techniques obscures students' ability
to be scrutinizing consumers when considering a credit card contract.
Seventy six percent of students reported stopping at tables on campus
to apply for credit cards, and nearly one-third were offered a free
gift to sign up.
One
thousand professors
from over 300 colleges in all 50 states released a statement declaring their preference for high-quality,
affordable textbooks, including open textbooks, over expensive commercial
textbooks.
Open
textbooks are high
quality open-access textbooks reviewed
and written by academics that can be used online at no cost and printed for a
small cost. Open textbooks are already used at some of the
nation’s most prestigious institutions, like Harvard, Caltech and Yale.
Textbooks cost students an average of $900 per year, which is a quarter of tuition
at an average four-year public university and nearly three-quarters of tuition
at a community college, according to the GAO. Research conducted by The Student PIRGs
identifies publisher tactics as the primary cause of escalating prices.
Bundling textbooks with unnecessary supplements forces students to purchase
items they do not need; unnecessary new editions undermine the used book
market; and withholding critical price information keeps faculty in the dark.
“As faculty members, our top priority is to choose the
textbook that is best for our students. We share concerns about
affordability, and face similar frustrations with publisher practices,” said
Sandra Schroeder, Chair of the American Federation of Teachers Higher Education
Program and Policy Council. “Open textbooks and other affordable options,
when appropriate for a course, are a win-win for everyone.”
Today, South Carolina students were hot on the trail of both Democratic and Republican candidates to ask all of the candidates: “What’s Your Plan?” on key issues such as global warming and college affordability.
"Reaching out to young voters is extremely significant being that they are our future leaders. I, along with a number of other members of the South Carolina State Student Association have done our part to get the younger population involved in the electoral process, and now it's time for government officials to do theirs' by reaching out to the younger community and tackling issues that are pertinent to them such as making college more affordable.," said Alesha Brown, University of South Carolina Student Body Treasurer.
Students attended events in Greenville, Columbia, and Orangeburg, speaking in particular with Senator McCain about global warming.
“I am seeing the African American community in Rock Hill become increasingly concerned about global warming, and seeing it as an important moral issue - and it’s socially conscientious people like me that are driving this concern. We hosted a showing of An Inconvenient Truth at my church just two days ago and had one of our largest turnouts ever for such an event. I’ll be watching the debates with this in mind, and paying attentions to what the candidates have to say about Global Warming,” said Willie Lyles III, recent graduate of Winthrop University and Executive Director of the Freedom Center in Rock Hill.
Last weekend, students were hot on the campaign trail of the Presidential candidates from IA to SC, asking candidates to detail their plans on global warming. Students spoke directly to several candidates, including Rudy Giuliani, John Edwards, Mitt Romney, Sam Brownback, Chris Dodd, Mike Huckabee, John Cox, and Joe Biden. See photo gallery.
What’s Your Plan? is a new national campaign to convince Presidential candidates to pay attention to young people and to address key youth issues.
Youth voting power has undergone a significant transformation over the past two election cycles. In 2004, young voter turnout was up 11% over 2000 levels - a rate three times higher than the general population. In 2006, young voter turnout increased by 2 million votes while turnout among all ages only moderately increased. Background on the Millennial Generation.
In 2006, these numbers were a big factor in several tight congressional races in states like Connecticut, Montana, and Virginia. In the close Connecticut 2nd District House race, for example, Congressman Joe Courtney credited his win to his youth outreach program.
The Student PIRGs predict that youth voter turnout will continue to increase in 2008 – and that candidates who have detailed policies on youth-specific issues will win the youth vote in 2008.
Buoyed by rising youth voting power, student leaders here and in all four of the early primary states called upon the presidential candidates to focus on young voters by outlining detailed plans on key youth issues. The national campaign, called “What’s Your Plan?” asks candidates to reach out to youth on two priority issues – global warming and higher education.
Youth voting power has undergone a significant transformation over the past two election cycles. In 2004, young voter turnout was up 11% over 2000 levels - a rate three times higher than the general population. In 2006 young voter turnout increased by 2 million votes while turnout among all ages only moderately increased.
In 2006, these numbers were a big factor in several tight congressional races in states like Connecticut, Montana, and Virginia. In the close Connecticut 2nd District House race, for example, Congressman Joe Courtney credited his win to his youth outreach program.
Students used today’s Earth Day events to highlight their message, pointing to the surge of student activity on global warming on and off campuses this year. Just last week, students played a major role in coordinating the over 1400 “Step It Up” events around the country calling on our leaders in Washington, DC to address global warming issues.
PIRG students in brightly colored What’s Your Plan? t-shirts and signs asked candidates from both parties questions about their plan for global warming in the four early primary states, California, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, and many other locations around the country.
On
January 18th, by a vote of 264 to 163, the
U.S. House of Representatives passed the Clean Energy Act. The U.S.
PIRG-backed measure closes some tax loopholes for big oil companies, recovers
billions in lost royalties for drilling in public waters, and shifts more than
$14 billion to investments in clean energy.
By harnessing renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and clean biofuels, we
can secure our economy and create jobs. By promoting technologies to save
energy, we can dramatically reduce our dependence on oil and save consumers
money. More than ever, America
needs a new direction on energy policy. With the passage of the CLEAN Energy
Act of 2007, Congress would send a clear message that they are ready to start
solving our energy problems.
The U.S. House of Representatives
voted to increase the size of the maximum Pell Grant by $260, to $4,310. This
is the first time the size of the Pell Grant has been increased since 2002. The
Pell Grant is the federal government’s premier need-based grant aid program,
providing aid to more than five million low-income
students.
Over the last five years, while
students have paid more for college, the maximum Pell Grant has remained frozen.
As a result students have had to make up the gap between tuition and aid with
more work and larger loans. This increase will start to provide students with
the aid they need to access an affordable college education. To fully restore
the Pell Grant to its historic value, we’re continuing to call for the maximum
to be increased to $5,100 in the coming budget cycle.
