Affordable Higher Education Reports

Risking Our Future Middle Class

Young Americans face “lasting damage” from the dual crises in the financial sector and in personal finance, making it urgent that Congress pass strong financial reform legislation.

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Report | Student PIRGs, Demos, United States Student Association | Higher Ed

Subpriming Our Students

New Briefing Paper Says College Students Need Consumer Financial Protection Agency to ‘Watchdog’ Risky Loans.

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Report | Higher Ed

Obama’s Budget: Supporting Students, not Banks

A report by the USPIRG Higher Education Project estimates the impact of transferring $5 billion in student lender bank subsidies to Pell Grant recipients in each state.

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Report | Higher Ed

Cutting Interest Rates, Lowering Student Debt - Updated

In 2007 Congress passed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. The bill included several provisions to lessen the burden of student debt including:

More than two billion dollars a year in additional funding for the Pell Grant program. The Pell Grant helps more than 5 million lower-income students each year.
A new Income-Based Repayment program that allows student loan borrowers to repay their federal loans as a percentage of their income.
Reductions in interest rates on subsidized Stafford student loans.

Read more about Cutting Interest Rates, Lowering Student Debt - Updated

Get Involved!

Work on important issues, learn valuable skills, get hands-on experience, and make a difference.

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Students in Action

CALPIRG students asking Governor Jerry Brown what his plan is to make higher education more affordable.
We collect petition signatures - lots of them!
CALPIRG’s Energy Service Corps: UCSD students working to engage students and the community about living sustainably at home via energy efficiency. Hello Wall-E.
Hunger and Homelessness intern Roua Aboukhadijeh collecting interview footage on campus for a short film on poverty.
Six media outlets covered a stop on the Textbooks Rebellion tour to promote affordable alternatives to outrageously expensive textbooks.
Vote Yes for OSPIRG!
Power Shift West 2009 organizers with State Representative Jefferson Smith.
Students campaign for High Speed Rail.
Fast Trains ARE Cool.
Students volunteer at a local garden for the National Hunger Cleanup.
University of Oregon students and staff remind their peers to turn in their ballots on election day.
Students at Southern Oregon University gather petitions to reduce plastic bag usage in the city of Ashland.
Volunteers wear the textbook mascot costumes to educate students about affordable textbook alternatives.
Students posing with the textbook Rebellion books, We Want Cheaper TEXTBOOKS!!
UCSD CALPIRG’s Protect Our Oceans Campaign. We want to stop the continued plastic pollution of our oceans. Join us!
UCSD students posing with Charlie the CFL after pledging to save energy in 1 to 4 ways at home.
Textbook Rebel and Mr. $200 drew attention to outrageous textbook prices.
Students educate others about different ways to reduce energy.
The Energy Efficiency campaign tabling to give away free CFLs and educate others about simple ways to reduce energy use.
Student leaders educate the campus about income inequality during National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.
MaryPIRG students collect canned food for the Canpaign at UMD.