Affordable Textbooks: In August 2008, we helped get an Affordable Textbooks provision included in the federal Higher Education Opportunity Act. The provision helps lower the cost of textbooks for millions of students by requiring publishers to disclose textbook pricing and revision information to faculty and requiring publishers to offer textbooks and supplemental materials "unbundled." It also asks colleges to provide the list of assigned textbooks, including prices, for each course when students are registering for classes.

The Connecticut State Legislature passed a bill requiring textbook publishers to make their prices available to faculty. Students at Trinity, UConn Hartford and UConn Storrs helped collect signatures and push the bill forward.

Hunger and Homelessness: In addition to service events and food drives, ConnPIRG students raised over $20,000 to help local shelters and service agencies keep operating.

Global Warming Solutions: Trinity College students convinced the building and grounds department to donate 150 compact fluorescent light bulbs, which ConnPIRG distributed to students while educating them about simple ways to conserve energy. ConnPIRG students at Trinity also held educational events about wind power and clean cars. They used these events to collect signatures for a call to action, which insisted that Trinity needed to step up and make sustainability a top priority.

Higher Education: In May 2009, the Student PIRGs helped convince Congress to pass strong legislation, called the “Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act” that will halt the most egregious abuses by the credit card industry. The CARD bill eliminates a lot of unfair practices, including: excessive and growing penalty fees, unfair billing practices, and unjustified and retroactive interest charges. It also restricts and requires greater transparency for marketing targeted exclusively at college campuses or consumers under the age of 21. Despite the credit card industry's lobbying to defeat or gut the bill, the Senate and the House both passed the bill with overwhelming, bi-partisan majorities.

In February 2009, The Student PIRGs helped convince Congress to include several key measures in the economic stimulus package.  The final package included a $17 billion increase in Pell grant funding, more work-study aid, and bigger tax credits for low-income students and their families.  The bill also included critical funding for programs that will create jobs and protect the environment, including $16 billion for public transit and $78 billion for clean energy and green infrastructure.

In September 2007, we helped pass the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, the largest increase in federal student aid in 20 years. This law also made dramatic cuts in interest rates for student loans. We followed up by helping pass the Higher Education Opportunity Act, which was signed by President Bush in August 2008. That law contains several important policy changes, including an increase in the maximum authorized level of the Pell Grant to $9,000.

New Voters Project: After an effort to help register and turn out voters by ConnPIRG through the national, non-partisan New Voters Project, the turnout from the polling place near the UConn Storrs campus was amongst the highest in the country. Nationally, the increase in youth voter turnout was four times the rate of the general population’s increase (4% for youth, 1% overall). The result was widely praised as one of the best youth turnouts in Mansfield.