In
the last few weeks hundreds of students have submitted "I support clean
energy because..." letters to their Senators, and they make one thing
clear: there are countless reasons why it's time to bring clean energy
to America.
Join thousands of students who are calling our Senators this week to let them know we support clean energy: http://studentpirgs.org/72hours
We're running out of time to get our Senators to pass a national clean energy plan - but we're in it to win it.
By
launching a 21st century energy plan for America, we can create
millions of green jobs, jump start the economy, and begin to solve
global warming.
We've teamed up with dozens of organizations
across the country to host this 72 hour phone blitz to our Senators
because the more calls we make, the more they'll pay attention to us.
We all have our own reasons for supporting clean energy. And our Senators need to hear them all.
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 and calling on their elected
official to support President Obama's plan increase financial aid for
students.
Today, the House of Representatives took an historic step toward a new clean energy economy and a healthy
future by passing the American Clean Energy and Security Act.
We're going to need to do much more in order to
make the dramatic shift we need in our energy policy and avoid the dire
consequences that scientists predict if we don't address global
warming. However, the first
step is always the hardest, and the House should be applauded for
taking it.
Next the bill will go to the Senate, where it will
face another tough fight. We look forward to building even more support
for clean energy solutions.
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.
The
Congress passed a strong Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and
Disclosure (CARD) Act that will halt the most egregious abuses by the
credit card industry. 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. President Obama signed it
into law on May 22 and it takes effect in nine months.
This is a big victory for students and all consumers! We've been working on this issue for a while now - see truthaboutcredit.org for more on our campus education program about credit cards, 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. Consumers under the age of 21 could
choose whether to receive credit card solicitations.
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.
Final 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.
Although students at UConn Hartford were on Spring Break last week, twelve ConnPIRG students still participated in a two day "Alternative Spring Break,"
volunteering for local shelters. The students volunteered at Foodshare’
s regional market, sorting donated food items, and at Mercy Housing and Shelter, where they helped organize the food pantry and served breakfast and lunch.
The
American Recovery & Reinvestment Act recently signed into law by
President Obama contains plenty for students to applaud.
Higher Education: The final recovery bill included a $17 billion
increase in the Pell grant program for
college students. The increase means more grant money, as well as more
work-study aid and bigger tax credits for low-income students and their
families. Rep. George Miller, the key House leader on education, sought
input on the plan from the Student PIRGs' Rich Williams. http://diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_12284.shtml
Public Transportation: The bill added $8 billion for high-speed rail, a move strongly
supported by the Student PIRGs.
Another $8 billion in the bill is designated for other public
transportation uses. The New York Times quoted U.S. PIRG's John
Krieger: “After decades of looking on with envy at efficient bullet
trains overseas, American high-speed rail is finally leaving the
station.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/politics/13stimulus.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=John%20Krieger&st=cse
Clean Energy:
The bill includes
more
than
$78 billion for clean energy and green infrastructure, including $33
billion for clean energy, $27 billion for energy efficiency, and $19
billion for green transportation.
ConnPIRG students at UConn
Hartford teamed up with ASG and had a Valentines Day-themed bake sale where they
fundraised for the Hunger Cleanup and Mercy Housing and Shelter. Volunteers got students to "Buy Sweets
for Your Sweet" while ASG sold carnations and had a chocolate fountain to
promote Valentine's Day festivities. The event raised a total of
$106.38.
Organizer Jeffrey Czerwiec and
members of UConnPIRG organized an event at the Homer Babbidge Library, using the
slogan: "Love Your Mother - Stop Global Warming." They collected Valentine's Day
cards to send to Congressman Joe Courtney, thanking him for supporting
investments in global warming solutions. Over 140 valentines were made by
students which will be delivered to the Congressman this week!
ConnPIRG intern and volunteer Jessica Roberts was recently awarded a Jill Silverman Memorial Scholarship. The award is given yearly to students who work in a summer canvass office for the Fund for the Public Interest.
Jessica was one of two college students awarded the scholarship created as a memorial to Jill Silverman who died tragically in an automobile accident in July 1989. The award is given to two canvassers each year who deomonstrate the talent and commitment that Jill deomonstrated.
Jessica, a senior psychology major at UConn, excelled as a Field Manager in the New Haven office. She was an all-around office leader as a trainer, social leader, campaign coordinator and field manager. One of the highlights of Jessica's work was a media conference centered around a report release on public transportation which got a lot of media attention including a front page article by the New Haven Register.
Last fall Jessica was an intern with the New Voters Project. She continues to volunteer with ConnPIRG taking on leadership roles within the group. She hopes to continue to work to create social change when she graduates in May.
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.
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 Wednesday, September 17, UConnPIRG's Hunger and Homelessness Campaign held the Swipe A Meal fund raiser. This semester the event raised just over $14,000 for local charities! Student volunteers were stationed throughout each of the dining halls asking students to donate a couple of their flex passes to charity. This semester the proceeds will benefit the Holy Family Shelter in Willimantic, My Sister's Place in Hartford and the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness. The event is held each semester.
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.
After the two Oscar wins on Sunday, Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth
drew a crowd of students, faculty, and staff at UConn Hartford. Movie
goers learned about the extent of global warming and some of the
solutions from watching the movie and then got a chance to write to
their congress members to than them for being great leaders on energy
issues by cosponsoring the Safe Climate Act and also to ask them to
cosponsor a bill that would set a national renewable electricity
standard of getting 20% of our electricity from renewables like wind
and solar by 2020.
On Tuesday, March 25, President Hogan from the University of Connecticut officially signed onto the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. UConn joins over 500 other college and university presidents who have pledged to make their university carbon neutral. Kristin Sullivan, Coordinator for UConnPIRG's Campus Climate Challenge, spoke at the ceremony on behalf of the student body thanking the administration for its leadership on the fight against global warming.
UConn New Voters Project held their voter registration blitz at UConn Hartford this week at registered 146 voters! Working with the School of Social Work, they registered voters in and around the undergrad building, drawing them in with writstbands, lanyards, banners, candy, and a chance to help float the vote boat - everyone who registered got to add water to float the boat so they could see the progress as the boat rose to the top of the tub. By the end of day two, the tub was almost overflowing!
Trinity ConnPIRG kicked off thier spring spring semester this year with lots of new and old faces at our meeting. Our Campus Climate Challenge got off to a great start by planning out an event to collect valentines for the top dogs on our campus urging them to make Trinity greener. Our Hunger and Homelessness group is planning several fun events for this semester including a sleep out, lots of volunteering in Hartford, and a week in which students experience what it's like to live on only $4/day for food - the equivalent of being on foodstamps. It's shaping up to be a great spring!
On December 6th, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a 21st Century energy bill that will harness American ingenuity and put us on a path to cleaner, smarter new energy future for America.
This bill is a breakthrough on energy policy and sets the country firmly on a path to increasing clean energy, lowering energy demand, and reducing U.S. dependence on oil.
We're now calling on the Senate to pass this bill quickly and for President Bush to sign it into law.
Highlights of the bill include:
Promote Clean Energy - by following the lead of half the states to establish a national renewable electricity standard, requiring utilities to produce 15% of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020. The bill also extends renewable energy production tax credits for four years and investment tax credits for 8 years.
A national renewable electricity standard will substantially reduce global warming pollution while sparking a clean energy boom across the U.S. According to a recent analysis by Environment America, renewable energy development in states with RES policies is already boosting local economies by luring new manufacturing and other skilled jobs. It's projected that the standard would save consumers at least $13 billion and cut 126 million metric tons of global warming pollution per year by 2020 (equal to taking more than 20 million cars off the road).
Reduce U.S. Dependence on Oil - by increasing fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks to 35 mpg by 2020. This would be the first meaningful increase in fuel economy standards in more than 15 years. The provision replaces the current standards with an attribute-based system that gives the auto industry tremendous compliance flexibility by allowing for different mileage requirements per vehicle size. The standards in the Senate bill would save 1.2 million barrels of oil a day in 2020, save consumers $25 billion at the gas pumps, and substantially reduce global warming pollution. With oil prices continuing to set new records above $80 a barrel, Americans want new standards and more efficient vehicles now.
Save Energy - by adopting strong energy-efficiency incentives and standards. Both the House and Senate bills contain legislation that would help Americans save energy in their homes and businesses. These policies include appliance and lighting efficiency standards, tax incentives, and building codes.
We had a great spring kickoff for the UConn Hartford Chapter - 35 students were at the meeting and we heard from both Andy MacDonald (Student PIRGs) and Lola Elliott-Hugh (UConn Urban and Community Studies Dept) about how effective students can be at making change.
The Hunger and Homelessness group is organizing volunteer trips right away, the Campus Climate Challenge started to plan a showing of An Inconvenient Truth, and our Higher Education group is organizing students to attend and testify at a hearing for state-funded grant aid programs.
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.
Student PIRG chapters across the country 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.
On January 17th, by a vote of 356 to 71, the U.S. House passed, by an
overwhelming bipartisan majority, legislation to lower the interest rates on
student loans over the next five years. According to an analysis by the Student
PIRGs, the move would save the average low or middle-income borrower starting
school in 2007 $2,300 in debt.
“H.R. 5 pays for better benefits for
students by cutting excessive federal subsidies to private lenders,” explained
U.S. PIRG Higher Education Advocate Luke Swarthout. “The bill saves millions of
students thousands of dollars over the life of their loans by eliminating
wasteful subsidies.
The
bill, H.R. 5, will lower interest rates on subsidized Stafford student loans, which are used overwhelmingly by
students from low- and middle-income families. The Senate will likely take up the issue of lower
interest rates as a part of a larger package of higher education policies in the
next several months.
Today Trinity Campus Climate Challenge along with Green Campus delivered over 250 valentine messages to the President, the VP of Financial Affairs, and the Trustees of Trinity College. Each valentine stated a student's own reason that they would like to see renewable energy on campus at Trinity. By showing the admistration the massive support from students (over 10% of campus signed valentines), the Campus Climate Challenge hopes to sway our administration and convince them that investing in renewables on campus is the smart thing to do.
Over 500 Trinity students donated a meal from their meal plans to a local shelter, raising $1,000! Coordinator Julian Loo worked with Chartwell's dining services to transfer donated meals into monetary contributions, and then put together a team of volunteers to get the word out and record the students donations. Good work Julian!
