How to Make Textbooks More Affordable
We're excited to announce the release of our newest campaign resource, a toolkit for our Making Textbooks Affordable program.
The high cost of textbooks has become a serious obstacle to the affordability of a college education. The textbook market is rigged so that publishers can generate huge profits and engage in bad practices at students’ expense.
Fortunately, we have solutions to this problem, most notably in the form of “open textbooks” – high-quality books that are available online for free or for a very low cost in print. With solutions like these, we can break the publishers’ stranglehold on the market and help make higher education more accessible to everyone.
Our new toolkit provides the resources that student governments need in order to bring open textbooks to their campuses and save students money. Download it today!
Save Student Aid: Issue Update
In response to our recent action alert, more than 70 student government presidents signed a letter to Congress urging them to oppose cuts to student aid programs. Thank you to everyone who took action!
Unfortunately, the U.S. House and Senate still chose to move forward with these cuts.
The cuts in the House's version of the budget are especially harsh and include:
- $90 billion from Pell Grants, which support nine million low-income students;
- $34 billion from in-school interest subsidies, which protect students from paying interest on their student loans while they're still in school; and
- $27 billion from programs like income-based repayment and public service loan forgiveness that provide a safety net for graduates with student debt.
However, these cuts are a long way from becoming final - and we're going to fight them at every single turn.Read more
Student Government Presidents: Save Student Aid!
The U.S. House and Senate will vote during the week of March 23rd on budget proposals that would cut $150 billion in student aid funding over the next ten years!
These budget resolutions would slash funding for Pell Grants, increase interest rates on student loans, and make other cuts that would make higher education more expensive for millions of students. (Learn more here.)
Student government presidents: please sign the letter below to Congress urging them to oppose these budget cuts.
This letter is sponsored by U.S. PIRG and the United States Student Association.
UPDATE: We submitted all of your letters to Congress, so we're no longer collecting new letters at this time. Thank you to everyone who signed on!
Louisiana State University Campaigns Against Budget Cuts
Louisiana students are currently facing deep proposed cuts to the state's higher education budget. Bradley Guin, a student leader from the Louisiana State University Student Government, told us about their efforts to prevent these cuts this spring.
Please tell us your name and current position in student government. Please also tell us a little bit about who you are: your year, major, any other background info you’d like to share.
My name is Bradley Guin and I serve as the State Capitol Advisor for the LSU Student Government. I essentially serve as the liaison between LSU SG and state leaders and legislators on matters affecting LSU and higher education. I’m currently a senior studying political science, and I will be attending law school next fall.Read more
Webinar: Help Make College More Affordable
Student governments are on the front lines in the fight to make higher education more affordable.
That's why we’re hosting a webinar for student government members to give you the latest insider news on the current debates in Congress around financial aid funding, interest rates on student loans, the Higher Education Act, and more. You’ll hear updates from the top two advocates who lobby for students in Washington, D.C.
Webinar: Making College Affordable
Thursday, March 27th
6 p.m. eastern time (3 p.m. Pacific)
Featuring:
Kalwis Lo, USSA Legislative Director
Ethan Senack, U.S. PIRG Higher Education AssociateRead more