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Over 1000 Professors Join Effort to Make Textbooks Affordable

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.” Here are some examples of open textbooks: Introduction to Economic Analysis A First Course in Linear Algebra Introduction to Physical Oceanography Check out a great front-page article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

New Report Exposes Deceptive Credit Card Practices on Campus

Maryland PIRG student chapter 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. Check out the Washington Post article printed April 13th 2008 Learn more at: truthaboutcredit.org

House Passes a 21st Century Energy Bill

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.

Power Shift Conference Brings 5,500 Students to Campus

Over 5,500 students from all 50 states came to the University of Maryland College Park on November 2-5 for the largest student global warming conference ever. Over 250 of the country’s leading organizers and advocates and policy experts gave speeches, ran skills trainings, and presented issue briefings for the crowd. Members of Congress spoke, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called young global warming activists the "magnificent disrupters of our time." On Monday, November 5th, we held the largest student Lobby Day on Capitol Hill ever – 3000 students went to meet with over 300 Congressional offices and ask them, among other things, to pass an energy bill this year that includes tough car economy standards (35 MPG by 2020) and renewable energy standards (15% by 2020). Afterward, there was a huge rally on the steps of the Capitol, where the speakers included several Congressmen and Maryland PIRG Chair Lauren Kim. The conference was organized by the Energy Action Coalition, of which Maryland PIRG is a member.

Green Fest Postcarding!

Our Campus Climate Challenge went down to the Green Fest on Sunday October 7, and we postcarded for the Global Warming Solutions Act. In just 2 hours, MaryPIRG Volunteers along with the Sierra Club managed to get 231 postcards signed to ask Governor O'Malley to cut global warming emissions 80% by 2050. MaryPIRG will continue to get hundreds of postcards signed to put lots of grassroots pressure on Maryland politicians to pass meaningful and enforceable climate change legistlation. Plus the Green Fest was a blast to attend.

Focus Date Food Drive

MaryPIRG's Hunger & Homelessness Project had a Focus Date Food Drive, and it was incredibly effective! On Friday night in front of the North Campus Diner, about 10 MaryPIRG Volunteers gathered over a hundred pounds of fruit, bread, cereal, bagels, and muffins for the DC Central Kitchen. Over 200 University of Maryland students helped donate all this food! This Food Drive is the first of many Focus Date Food Drives that MaryPIRG is going to put on throughout the semester. Thanks for Corin Jacoby for all her work and her sweet costume!

Crab Fest Voter Registration

Last Thursday, MaryPIRG's New Voter's Project did Voter Registration at the Crab Fest. MaryPIRG and the SGA combined to get lots of new voters registered just before the registration deadline. Overall, in the fall semester, over 1000 new voters were registered at the University of Maryland College Park. The SGA and MaryPIRG were even featured on Maryland Newsline, the School of Journalism's Campus TV News Show.

Congress Passes Milestone Student Aid Bill

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.

House Passes Student Aid Bill

On July 11th, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the "College Cost Reduction Act of 2007" (HR 2669) by a vote of 273-149. The bill will substantially increase the purchasing power of the Pell Grant, the nation's premiere need-based grant program which benefits millions of low income students, increasing the maximum grant amount by $100 for five years beginning in 2008-9. It will make student loan debt more affordable by cutting the interest rate on student loans in half, to 3.4%, by 2012, and by capping loan repayment amounts to a reasonable percentage of a graduate's income. HR 2669 goes a long way toward solving the college affordability and access crisis in the country.

Maryland Students Participate in the National Campus Climate Challenge Week of Action

Students with the Campus Climate Challenge at the University of Maryland-College Park this week participated in the national week of action to raise awareness about global warming.  Volunteers set up a table at the annual Stampfest in the Student Union and collected more than 300 photo petitions, asking Congress to "Step it up: cut carbon dioxide 80% by 2050."  In addition, students set up the table with a laptop showing an Inconvenient Truth on a loop to all who stopped by the table.

House Votes to Increase Pell Grant

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.

Open Spaces Victory!

On January 19th Governor O'Malley introduced his budget for the coming year.  True to his pledge, the Governor did not divert any funding from Program Open Space and the other land conservation programs. Thank you to everyone who was a part of this campaign. It's definitely a step in the right direction toward protecting Marland's open spaces.

House Tops Off First 100 Hours by Passing Clean Energy Act

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. For more information, read http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7006189616.

House Votes to Lower Interest Rates for Student Loans and Cut Excessive Subsidies to Private Lenders

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. For more information, read http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/18/us/18loans.html

Maryland PIRG and the Campus Climate Challenge Campaign Host a Forum on Global Warming and Clean Energy

This week, students with Maryland PIRG's Campus Climate Challenge campaign hosted the second annual "Earth to College Park" forum on global warming and its impacts.  Speakers included Shadia Wood, of the Environmental Justice Climate Change Initiative, and Matt Stern, of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.  The speakers addressed various negative impacts of global warming, ranging from the impacts on the climate, to impacts on the economic and social level as well.

University of Maryland voting up 300% over 2002

For the past two and a half months, students involved with MarylandPIRG at University of Maryland have dedicated a great deal of their spare time to increasing youth voter turnout. Volunteers registered 549 students to vote, and worked hard to turn them out to the polls on Election Day. Together with coalition partners and receptive young people across the country, these efforts comprised the largest midterm mobilization effort in history! Volunteers at the University of Maryland worked hard to talk to over 1500 of their peers about the election. They held tables outside of the student union, spoke in classes and called registered voters to remind them about the election. Maryland PIRG volunteers helped make over 250 contacts with their peers on Election Day alone, gathering signatures on a large banner that hung by their table on Election Day.  Volunteers with MarylandPIRG, the Student Government Association, and Maryland Votes passed out candy and cookies to students waiting in line to vote, as well as passed around the banner for them to sign as a pledge that they would vote.  As a direct result of these students’ hard work, over 450 voters cast their ballots in this 2006 midterm election; this number is up from less than 150 in the 2002 midterm election.

University of Maryland Student Leaders Testify at the Board of Education

The rising cost of higher education is a serious problem in the United States.  Many students work full time in addition to attending classes, doing homework and getting involved in their community. Student debt can be a serious burden while in school, and an even more serious hindrance upon graduation – when student loan payments begin. In an effort to make the US Department of Higher Education pay attention to the lack of sufficient student loan assistance, MarylandPIRG volunteer Matt Johnson, Student Government President Emma Simson, Director of Governmental Affairs Andrew Friedson, and USMSC member Devin Ellis traveled to Washington, D.C. to testify before the Board on Wednesday, November 8. The four students joined others from campuses up and down the east coast in sharing their stories about student debt.   They asked the US Department of Education to support college graduates by easing up on the financial strain of student loan repayment and supporting the five-point plan for manageable student debt repayment.

22nd Annual Hunger Cleanup Raises Money for St. Ann's Infant and Maternity Home in Hyattsville

This spring, as part of the 22nd Annual Hunger Cleanup, students involved in the Maryland PIRG campus chapter at College Park helped to raise over $1000 to purchase beds for St. Ann's Infant and Maternity Home in Hyattsville, MD.  Volunteers sold St. Patrick's Day-themed buttons and requested donations from family and friends to provide the Home with new beds for the older children living in their facilities. About St. Ann's:  St. Ann's Infant and Maternity Home has provided a refuge for needy women and children in the Washington, DC area since 1860 when three Daughters of Charity, a religious community dedicated to helping those who are poor established the city's first home for foundlings and single women "at their time of confinement in childbirth". Since that date 145 years ago, St. Ann's has been a pioneer in developing programs to reach our city's most destitute women and children.

MaryPIRG Erects a 20-ft. Inflatable Power Plant on Hornbake Plaza

Volunteers with MaryPIRG's campaign to pass the Healthy Air Act recently erected a 20-foot tall inflatable power plant on Hornbake Plaza to raise awareness about the dangers of coal-fired power plants.  The students also gathered over 200 signatures to state legislators in support of the Healthy Air Act, which were later delivered in person to all of the legislators in Annapolis. Background:  Energy companies operate seven power plants in Maryland that pollute far more than all other power plants combined. Of the pollution from Maryland power plants, these seven plants alone emit 63 percent of the smog-forming pollution, 96 percent of the soot pollution, 83 percent of the global warming pollution and 100 percent of the mercury pollution.  This pollution causes severe health and environmental problems. The Healthy Air Act will require the six dirtiest power plants in Maryland to reduce the pollution that causes smog, soot, global warming, the dead zone in the bay, and mercury contamination of fish. It will require reductions of 75 percent in nitrogen oxide emissions, 85 percent in sulfur dioxide, 90 percent in mercury and 10 percent in carbon dioxide.

MaryPIRG Sends 32 to Mississippi for Gulf Relief

Over 30 students from the University of Maryland participated in a 10-day service trip to Biloxi, MS over their winter break to aid in hurricane relief efforts.  MaryPIRG's own Hunger and Homelessness coordinator, David Logan, organized the trip to benefit the Christus Victor Lutheran Church in Ocean Springs, MS, recruited students, and was instrumental in raising nearly $8,000 to fund the trip and buy supplies for the relief effort. While there, the students gutted houses and cleaned up debris in Ocean Springs and the surrounding areas of St.Martin’s and Biloxi. The crew was also instrumental in setting up the Presbyterian Disaster response in Pearlington, North of Waveland, one of the most devastated areas along the Gulf Coast. In addition to all the housing work, MaryPIRG volunteers were left behind at Christus Victor daily to aid in the distribution center. They did things like clean and organize donations in addition to handing out supplies to Gulf Coast residents.

Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week draws several hundred students

Students with Maryland PIRG, the Office of Community Service Learning, and other campus groups organized events to bring awareness and educate the campus about national and international hunger and homelessness issues.  The students organized two Hunger Banquets, attended by over 150 people, showed a film on campus about poverty among children, and organized a sleepout at the Sundial.

Students rally against federal budget bill

As part of the national campaign to Stop the Raid on Student Aid, University of Maryland students worked with staff from Congressmen Steny Hoyer’s office to host a forum on the cost of higher education.  Speakers included Congressmen Steny Hoyer and Ben Cardin, Maryland PIRG Director Brad Heavner, SGA President Andrew Rose, and Maryland PIRG students Joe Welty and John McBride.  The event was attended by about 40 people and was covered by the campus newspaper, the PG Gazette, and the DC Examiner.

UMCP holds forum on climate change and energy efficiency

UMCP students organized a forum to educate the campus and community on global efforts at reducing global warming and what students can do on campus to increase energy efficiency.  Joan Kowal from Facilities Management spoke about the university's efforts to reduce energy use, and the students participated in a mock strategy session on how to plan a campaign for energy efficiency.