UCSB Shares Voices of Hunger

ASUCSB Food BankWe recently spoke with Juli Nguyen from the Food Bank run by the Associated Students of the University of California, Santa Barbara (ASUCSB). She told us about "Voices of Hunger," the Food Bank's new campaign to raise awareness about student food insecurity.Read more


Ending Hunger on Campus

Toolkit coverHunger is a reality everywhere – even on college campuses.

As college becomes less affordable, more students are living on the edge. For some, it's an ongoing struggle just to get enough to eat.

Recently, this problem has prompted some colleges to set up on-campus food pantries to help students in need. New pantries are opening every semester.

Many student governments are interested in opening a campus food pantry, but aren't sure where to start. That's why we've created this toolkit to provide the resources you need to create and operate a successful food pantry on your campus.

Please download the toolkit today!


Join the Textbooks Team

The school year has barely begun, but we've already seen exciting breakthroughs in the movement to use open textbooks on campus.

The skyrocketing cost of textbooks is making it even harder to afford a college education. Fortunately, we have a solution to this problem in the form of “open textbooks” – high-quality books that the authors have decided to publish online for free or for a very low cost in print. With open textbooks, we can help make higher education more accessible to everyone.

Just in the past month, we've seen exciting changes on this issue:

  • Thanks to hard work by students in California, the state legislature passed a bill this month that will expand the use of open textbooks at California's public universities. This comes just a few months after Oregon passed a similar law.
  • Many schools are considering the creation of open textbook programs. Most notably, the University of Maryland University College announced a plan to eliminate the use of all paid textbooks.
  • The open textbooks market keeps growing as new books are released, including new books on algebra, trigonometry, and chemistry from the popular OpenStax program.

With more and more of you working to make textbooks affordable, we're expanding our work to support open textbook programs.  As part of this, we're creating a new campaign team around this issue.

Join our Open Textbooks Team to get special campaign updates and network with other students around the country who are involved with this issue.

And if you haven't done so yet, download our open textbooks toolkit to get resources on how to bring open textbooks to your campus.


ASUNM Develops Next Generation of Leaders

ELL LogoWe recently spoke with Kyle Biederwolf, the director of Emerging Lobo Leaders at the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico (ASUNM). Emerging Lobo Leaders is a program that provides leadership opportunities for incoming UNM students. It serves as a vehicle to recruit and train future leaders for ASUNM and other student organizations.

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, and any other background info you’d like to share.
My name is Kyle Biederwolf. My current position is Executive Director of the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico’s (ASUNM’s) Emerging Lobo Leaders. I am a junior studying Marketing at the Anderson School of Management. I love Lobo basketball, “The Office” and changing peoples lives.

How did you get involved in ASUNM?
I knew right when I came to UNM that I wanted to get involved in the student government. I was a part of Youth in Government in high school and really found my passion, so there was never a question of whether or not I would join ASUNM. In the spring of my freshman year, then-ASUNM Presidential candidate Rachel Williams and Vice Presidential candidate Jenna Hagengruber reached out to me about running for a seat on the student senate. I immediately agreed, and the rest was history.Read more


How to Make Textbooks More Affordable

textbooks toolkitWe'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!


Student Organizing Jobs and Internships

Several of our friends and partners are now hiring. If you're looking for a job or internship in the student organizing field, these openings may be of interest to you.

Fellowship for Affordable Higher Education
U.S. PIRG is hiring a Fellow to work on their Higher Education Project. This is a two-year organizing position to push back against cuts to the federal higher education budget, get predatory banking products off campus, and work to introduce free, online textbooks into classrooms. This position is based in Washington, D.C., or Boston, MA.Read more


SUNY Students Organize Statewide Advocacy Effort

We recently spoke with Marc Cohen, the Senior Director of External Relations for the SUNY Student Assembly, about their recent lobby day at the state capitol.

Please tell us your name and current position with the SUNY Student Assembly. Please also tell us a little bit about who you are: your year, area of study, any other background info you’d like to share.
My name is Marc Cohen. I’m a Junior at the University at Albany studying Political Science and Philosophy, and the Senior Director of External Relations for the SUNY Student Assembly. I also serve the University at Albany Student Association as Vice President.Read more


Save Student Aid: Issue Update

Save Student Aid

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!

Save Student AidThe 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!


Pittsburgh Student Governments Work in Citywide Coalition

Pittsburgh student leaders meet with Mayor Peduto.
Pittsburgh student leaders meet with Mayor Peduto.

We recently spoke with Dave Gau, the President of the Pittsburgh Student Government Council (PSGC). The PSGC is a coalition of student governments from eleven colleges in the Pittsburgh area. Together, they advocate on local issues that affect students.

Please tell us your name and current position in student government. Please also tell us a little bit about who you are: your year, area of study, any other background info you’d like to share.
My name is Dave Gau, President of the Pittsburgh Student Government Council and also President of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate and Professional Student Government. I graduated from Pitt in 2011 with a BPhil in Bioengineering and BS in Math and Economics. I am currently a third-year PhD student in Bioengineering at Pitt. I am originally from Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, and also went abroad from 2011-2012 to work in Australia with a Whitaker Fellowship and Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship prior to returning to work on my PhD.Read more