Young voters are more than a passing trend

What a difference a year makes. Leading up to the 2008 election, the youth vote was highlighted as the deciding bloc for a new America. This year however, media pundits and political insiders determined that youth were not going to be relevant in local elections, harping on it so much in the weeks preceding the election that it became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Because youth weren’t supposed to be the deciding vote, candidates didn’t give young voters the same attention they did in 2008. In fact, many candidates and issue leaders barely even acknowledge youth voters in their campaigns. Hardly any candidate spoke about the historic student aid reform going through Congress, crippling state higher education budget cuts, or tuition hikes. In Virginia’s gubernatorial race, neither candidate spoke directly to youth or about youth issues during their respective campaigns until the eleventh hour. Yet youth were still expected to turnout in the same numbers that we did for President Obama, a candidate who made our generation a priority throughout his entire campaign.

Despite politicians’ disengagement with and the media’s skepticism of youth, students were incredibly active in the 2009 elections. In New Brunswick, New Jersey, the “Yes on Wards” campaign was developed and implemented largely by Rutgers’ University students. They successfully placed an initiative on the ballot to reform the city council to more accurately reflect the city’s population. Additionally, they registered hundreds of their peers to vote, educated the community on their issues, and ran a strong get-out-the-vote program. While media outlets were busy criticizing our apathy, students launched and directed a local campaign to reform city politics.

In Washington, voters were faced with a tax initiative that would link state spending to inflation and is widely seen as harmful to state services including higher education. To prevent this potentially catastrophic spending restriction, the Washington Student Association strongly opposed the initiative and organized to ensure its failure. In Oregon, students have registered almost five thousand voters since the academic year began in late September. Nationally, the United States Student Association (USSA) is hiring students for the 2010 election to empower their peers to run effective electoral campaign on campuses nationwide.

Youth are involved. Like any other demographic, we take action when candidates engage us and speak to our issues. We mobilize in large numbers when we believe our vote will make a difference. We are angry that big banks receive billions of dollars in government funds while we are graduating thousands of dollars in debt, if we graduate at all. We are tired of states balancing budgets on our backs. We are frustrated by the lack of movement on critical reforms in student aid, immigration, and healthcare. 2010 candidates should pay attention; youth voting didn’t begin with President Obama and it certainly didn’t end with his election.

Youth Report on Federal Initiatives at One Year Anniversary of Obama Election

One year ago, America’s youth overwhelming swept Barack Obama into office. Yesterday, leaders from a variety of youth organizations spoke with members of the press about what progress they feel President Obama and Congress are making on election promises to enact critical policy reforms. The press call happened in conjunction with the release of “One-Year Later,” a youth report on the federal government’s progress on a diverse range of subjects from healthcare to veteran affairs to higher education.

The United States Student Association (USSA) Vice President Lindsay McCluskey spoke about legislative efforts to pass student aid reform and the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. “The burden of paying for college has been passed on to students and working families, disproportionately impacting students of color, low income students, and students from other underrepresented communities,” said McCluskey. “However, President Obama and Congress have demonstrated a commitment to improving college access and affordability,” by passing the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (H.R. 3221) in the House and expressing support for the DREAM Act.

While students remain optimistic about the DREAM Act’s eventual passage, its sluggish progression through Congress is denying thousands of students the chance to pursue a college degree and further contribute to the economy. Additionally, the Senate has yet to take action on its version of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, postponing critical increases in financial aid for students taking on massive loan debt and tuition hikes. The USSA and students nationwide will continue to advocate for these pieces of legislation until they are signed into law by President Obama.

Lawsuits Mount Against FFELP Lender

The reasons to eliminate the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) grow by the lawsuit. FFELP allows private banks to receive billions of dollars in government subsidies to issue federal student loans. However, participating lenders have become notorious for exploiting the program by cutting corners and taking advantage of students. Recently, according to Bunsinessinsider.com, banking giants JPMorgan and Citigroup have joined the fray and are being sued for conspiring with education financing company Nelnet to falsify government claims and illegally recruit student borrowers.

Nelnet, which has a history of shady dealings with financial aid administrators, has been accused of issuing false reports to the U.S. Department of Education in order to receive more subsidies under the FFELP program. The charges include illegally pushing students to apply for loans, paying telemarketers to aggressively sell packages, and engaging in false advertising to increase sales. While Nelnet was in litigation for these accusations, JPMorgan and Citigroup loaned them $500 million and provided and additional $120 million themselves for assistance. Nelnet faced similar charges by the New York and Nebraska Attorney General offices as recently as 2007.

Congress is working to address these problems by passing the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (HR 3221), which would end FFELP. Private lenders are trying to maintain their profits in the student loan industry by developing a counter-proposal. Instead of having Congress invest in low-income financial aid programs like the Pell grant and Perkins loan, lenders want those dollars to go towards banking fees and other services that pad the pockets of executives.

Bank lobbyists argue that direct government lending limits competition. Yet with all the back-dealings and illegal solicitation from private lenders, FFELP runs counter to everything free market principles stand for. Instead, direct government loans offer students more secure aid with increased public accountability. Congress must send President Obama a student aid reform bill this year that eliminates FFELP and invest in direct student aid to help reduce the level of debt students graduate with, allowing them to grow the economy and help America regain its educational prestige.

Regulating the “Wild West” of Student Loans

The need for strengthened consumer protection in the lending industry became painfully evident as millions of American lost their homes, jobs, or both in the wake of the recent financial meltdown. While healthcare still dominates congressional debate, legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives is being crafted to create a federal Consumer Financial Protection Agency to regulate forms of consumer credit traditionally subject to little government oversight. College affordability advocates, including the United States Student Association, are working to ensure that private student loans, the “wild west of lending” according to New York’s Attorney General, fall under the jurisdiction of the new agency.

This is where it gets tricky. Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) is authoring an exemption for small businesses and local merchants that would suffer under excessive regulation. That makes sense; after all, it’s not the mom and pop shops we need to worry about. The problem is that the exemption language is vague and could be interpreted to include higher education institutions that issue private loans, not the type of businesses the carve out was intended to protect.

The concern is over aid issued by these higher education companies called “gap” loans. Because federal loans don’t always cover the entire cost of college, private “gap” loans are offered by institutions to pay the difference between the maximum amount of federal aid and the remaining college cost. While these loans play a necessary role in financial aid, they are often structured as consumer financing, like credit cards, and can reach double-digit interest rates, which leads to higher loan debt and increased student default. Lenders argue excessive regulation will harm students by preventing companies from issuing these loans. Yet, the new agency would only enforce laws that require lenders to inform students about federal loan options and to disclose information about their private loans, such as interest rates and estimated monthly payments.

The USSA supports these regulations that would simply mandate lenders tell the truth about their loans.

Students March for Justice

The National Mall in Washington, DC has been the epicenter for many of America's most memorable social justice moments.  Last Sunday was no different as tens of thousands of people marched and rallied for LGBT rights during the National Equality March.  While many participants were stalwart civil rights activist veterans and seasoned political leaders, young people played a large role in the historic events.  Students from New York, Kentucky, and Minnesota spoke to the crowd, which included hundreds of their college-going peers.
 
The United States Student Association (USSA), the country’s oldest and largest student-led organization, believes that no one should be denied basic human rights on account of sexual orientation or gender identity.  “It is important for students to be engaged in the fight for LGBT rights because social justice isn't secured for just one group but for all those who seek a better world,” said Gregory Cendana, the organization’s first openly gay Asian American President.
 
In addition to the traditional access and affordability barriers to a higher education, LGBT students face potentially unsafe living conditions, homophobic classmates and professors, institutional heterosexism, and an overall lack of university support.  "Queer students joined the National Equality March in order to demonstrate that we are tired of injustices and have the numbers to prove it," said USSA Queer Students Coalition chair Nestor Rivera, a student at UC Santa Cruz.

Queer students of color face particular obstacles in the fight for social justice and the USSA works with the community to address some of the specific challenges. “As both queer and students of color, one of the obvious but unique struggles that we face is reconciling the intersection of these identities,” said USSA Queer Students of Color Caucus chair Rich Yap, a student at UCLA.
 
The National Equality March, and students across the country, showed the world that the LGBT community will no longer allow the dreams of equality and justice to be deferred by political conveniences. The USSA urges all Americans to participate in the National Day of Silence on April 16, 2010. 

Access Denied: 2-Year Students Prevented from Receiving Federal Loans

Federal loans are the safest, most stable loans available to students. They don't fall victim to the fluctuations of the market economy, come with low interest rates, and provide flexible repayment plans. Yet roughly 900,000 community college students, nearly 1 in 900,00010, are denied access to these loans because their college administrators choose not participate in federal loan programs, according to a recent Project on Student Debt study. Students of color face even higher barriers to federal aid, with 18% of African-American and 19% of Native American 2-year students lacking access to federal loans.

Without these options, students are forced to mitigate the cost of college by increasing their workload, cutting back on classes, or dropping out altogether.
Student aid reform legislation currently in the U.S. Senate makes unprecedented investments in federal aid programs such as the Pell grant and Perkins loan. Hopefully these historic increases will spur community college administrators into participating in these programs. Such involvement is essential, for while community college tuition and fees are traditionally lower than at 4-year universities, the cost of books and supplies, rent, transportation, and similar expenses are incredibly high and usually exceed tuition and fees.

“Access to college is crucial to the economic future of our nation because America will need a well-educated and trained workforce in order to compete in the global economy. Community colleges are critical to these efforts and the reform proposed in the financial aid system as well as efforts to improve these institutions are welcomed news to students,” said USSA Community College chair Nathan Hanson, a student at Inver Hills in Minnesota. If education is to be the engine driving America's economic prosperity, then community college administrators must allow their students to have access to federal aid; otherwise, the skyrocketing cost of college will continue to deny thousands of hardworking students the dream of attaining a college degree or certificate.

A United UC Community Marches in Solidarity

The presumption that college students have become lazy and apathetic was vigorously swept away in a tidal wave of student demonstrations against California's divestment in higher education yesterday. California students, in solidarity with faculty and staff, rallied and marched to voice their outrage over the skyrocketing cost of college, declining quality, furloughs, and pay cuts. UC Berkeley was the site for one of the largest protests since the historic free speech rallies in the 1960s, UC Irvine students ignored the near one hundred degree heat to turn out by the thousands, and hundreds of Bruins marched to the UCLA administration building to demand change.

The outpouring of protest was caused by the state and system's drastic higher education spending cuts and fee hikes. In July, the state legislature slashed three billion dollars from the state’s higher ed budget, causing the UC Regents to raise fees nine percent and cut three hundred million dollars. Then earlier this month, the UC Regents voted to increase tuition by thirty-two percent, bringing the cost of college up to ten thousand dollars. And it doesn't look like it's going to get better. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the California regents are expected to raise tuition by forty-five percent next year, which would bring the grand total to $10,302.

Frustration reached a boiling point when neither the legislature nor the UC Regents accepted responsibility, each blaming the other for the financial crisis. "While we understand there's some anger and angst spread across our campuses, our hope is that it will be directed more precisely toward Sacramento [the state capital], where the heart of the problem lies," said UC's interim provost, Larry Pitts. Yet those in Sacramento are turning the issue back on the campuses, with Julia Brownley, chair of the Assembly Education Committee, saying "the state is facing an unprecedented fiscal crisis [and] the students are protesting how the university cut its budget. The Legislature left that up to the university." Meanwhile, as both higher ed governing entities point a finger at the other, and Governor Schwarzenegger dismisses the students as a "screaming interest group," the dream of a college education is slipping further away from thousands of potential students.

Yet despite the confusion of blame, and blazing heat, students, faculty, and staff refused to take the onslaught lying down. Raising signs that read "We Are UC," California students, faculty, and staff came together and with one voice showed the country that decision makers cannot ignore the collective power of thousands of community members directly impacted by the atrocious hikes in the cost of college. "This is a day of solidarity," said one Riverside student, indicating that while the demonstrations may have ended yesterday, the student movement across the nation will continue until education is again made a right.

U.S. House Passes Historic Student Aid Reform Bill

Today is a historic day for higher education as the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), H.R. 3221. The U.S. Student Association, along with students and families nationwide, are ecstatic about this landmark bill and its capacity to help millions of current and potential college students achieve an affordable and quality higher education. This legislation includes the greatest investments in higher education in American history.

SAFRA reforms the student loan industry by eliminating federal subsidies to private banks and investing the near one hundred billion dollars in savings into need-based aid programs. These investments in higher education surpass even the renowned G.I. Bill and Higher Education Act.

“On behalf of the USSA’s 4.5 million student members at over 400 campuses, we thank Members of the House of Representatives for their diligent work on passing SAFRA,” said USSA President Gregory Cendana. “Students today are taking on insurmountable amounts of debt to pay for college, essentially mortgaging their futures with convoluted loan plans from private banks. SAFRA will reform this broken system by increasing federal, need-based aid that will help bring President Obama’s goal to lead the world in college graduations to fruition.”

Additionally, SAFRA invests 2.55 billion dollars in Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other Minority Serving Institutions. “Increased funding for Minority Serving Institutions through this bill is a direct investment in communities traditionally barred from higher education and ensures greater access to the American dream,” said USSA People of African Decent caucus chair Getachew Kassa, a student at the University of Oregon.

The Senate is expected to take up its version of the student aid reform bill later this month. USSA students and staff will be organizing on campuses across the country to support the Senate bill and ensure that the crucial reforms in SAFRA reach President Obama’s desk by the end of the year.

USSA Joins Speaker Pelosi, Ed Secretary Duncan, Chair Miller, and others to Advocate for Student Aid Reform

On Tuesday, September 15, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, other lawmakers and USSA students held two press events to urge the House to pass the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), H.R. 3221, a bill which makes the largest investment in higher education in American history. The USSA membership voted overwhelmingly to support this historic legislation at the 2009 National Student Congress.

During the first press conference, surrounded by congressional leadership and the top higher education officials, USSA student Jelisa Difo, a Senior at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, spoke about the necessity of student aid reform. “By investing in federal aid programs, SAFRA will ensure that millions of students like me have access to a quality and affordable higher education,” said Difo.

Immediately following the press conference, USSA President Gregory Cendana joined Secretary Duncan, Chair Miller, Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY), and USSA student Michael Kebede from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, to speak with student journalists and major media outlets about SAFRA.

“We are excited this monumental piece of legislation is moving in the House this week and are thankful we have education champions like Secretary Duncan, Chair Miller and Rep. Bishop fighting for students,” said Cendana. “USSA, along with students and families across the country, are thrilled about the investment SAFRA will put into higher education and the positive impact it will have on the economy.”

The House is expected to vote on SAFRA later this week. USSA students nationwide will continue to organize around supporting the legislation when it is taken up by the Senate.

College Affordability Spurs Economic Growth

At a recent event with Vice President Joe Biden, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner reaffirmed his strong belief in the economic benefits of college affordability:

"College affordability is central to two key economic trends. Over the past generation, we have gone from a nation of savers to one of borrowers. We have devoted too many resources to consumption and not enough to investment. During this same period, we have also lost our global educational lead. While we once outpaced all other advanced economies in the percentage of our population that graduated from high school and college, much of the rest of the economically developed world has now caught up or surpassed us."

Secretary Geithner was speaking about 529 plans, education saving programs operated by states or educational institutions that help families set aside funds for future college costs. Washington State's GET (Guaranteed Education Tuition) program is an exemplary model of a 529, allowing parents to make tuition payments today so that they are protected from massive tuition hikes when their children attend college in ten or twelve years.

These programs are essential to college accessibility. To augment this point, the pervasively dire statistics respecting rising college costs are worth repeating. The average student borrower graduates over $20 thousand in debt, tuition hikes of 20-30 percent are a dime a dozen, textbook prices are quadruple the rate of inflation and cost an annual average just shy of $1 thousand, and books and supplies are now 10 percent of community college students' total budgets. The availability of 529 plans and other measures to hinder the skyrocketing cost of college, such as the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, will help mitigate these financial barriers.

Equally ubiquitous are the benefits of a college degree, which are also worth reiterating. A college graduate, either 2- or 4-year, has much greater lifetime earnings than a high school grad, generating a larger tax base for public revenue and spurring economic growth through increased purchasing power. Crime and incarceration rates are significantly lower in highly educated communities, trends which are collaborated with drops in welfare dependency and health care needs. It seems like investment in college affordability programs is a near silver-bullet for many of the nation's domestic problems.

The U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act later this week, let's hope Members of Congress reach the same conclusion as Secretary Geithner and pass this historic piece of legislation.