OR Student Association Celebrates 35th Anniversary

USSA member the Oregon Student Association premiered this video at their 35th anniversary dinner April 16, 2010. The video highlights OSA’s 35 years of growth, along with what they provide to students. Congrats on to OSA, we can’t wait to see what the next 35 years will bring!

Students Back Measures to Restore Fairness in Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Laws

Last week, Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Al Franken (D-MN) joined Representatives Steve Cohen (D-TN) and Danny Davis (D-IL) in introducing legislation that would permit private student loan debt to be dischargeable in bankruptcy court.  The bills, S. 3219: The Fairness for Struggling Students Act in the Senate and H.R. 5043: The Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Fairness Act in the House, would restore fairness to laws governing student loan bankruptcy. 

“This legislation ends the special treatment private student lenders have enjoyed for years at the financial and personal expense of debt-ridden college graduates,” said USSA President Gregory Cendana.  “If a struggling individual can file for bankruptcy on their home, credit card, or even gambling debts, then why not student loans?  This is an anomaly in bankruptcy law that arbitrarily treats student borrowers worse than other types of borrowers.” 

Reforming student loan repayment laws is critical.  Even with recent improvements to the federal Income-Based Repayment program, there is still an estimated 730 billion dollars in outstanding federal and private student loan debt in the United States, with only 40 percent being actively repaid.  The rest is in default or deferment, resulting in plummeting credit and huge sums of interest for borrowers. 

Private student loans have not been dischargeable in bankruptcy court since 2005, leading to a recent hike in student loan debt, which today averages nearly 25 thousand dollars. USSA will be advocating for this and other measures to make college more accessible and affordable for all.

Student Leaders Endorse Measures to Invest in Strong Job Growth

Last week, the USSA Board of Directors, made up entirely of college student leaders, voted to endorse a series of principles it wishes to see in upcoming legislation designed to spur job growth.  There are a number of job bills in Congress.  USSA will be advocating for the above principles to be included in whichever jobs bill is ultimately advanced.  The principles are:

• Funding exclusively for new youth employment.
  
• Job training for community based organizations.
  
•  Long-term comprehensive youth employment solutions.
  
• Prevention of massive education job loss resulting from state budget cuts.
  

 "Today's young people face mountains of student loan debt along with an unemployment rate more than a third higher than the national average,” said USSA Community and Labor Liaison Kortney McBride, a student at the University of California, Berkeley.  “If Congress is serious about strengthening the future sustainability of our nation's economy, it must include investments in the prosperity of the nation's youth." 

The nation's unemployment crisis has had a crippling impact on young people and people of color, requiring USSA, as a national force for youth and traditionally underrepresented communities, to take a stand on strong jobs legislation.  For instance, adults with a high school diploma have more than twice the unemployment rate (10.8 percent) of adults with a bachelor's degree (4.7 percent).  This demonstrates the important connection between receiving a college degree and gaining employment. 

USSA will be advocating for strong jobs legislation on behalf of the nation’s college students, particularly those in traditionally underrepresented communities who are disproportionately affected by unemployment.  The ability to secure gainful employment is one of the main reasons why USSA fights for education as a right, not a privilege.

Day of Silence

This Friday, April 16th marks the 14th annual Day of Silence, that has grown to be largest student-led action towards the awareness of the harassment of LGBT youth in the nation. Students of all ages take an Oath of Silence, giving up their speaking privilege to experience the silencing that youth face for their sexual identity, gender identity, gender expression or perceived sexual identity. Allies to the LGTB community are able to confront similar struggles that LGTB youth face once their ability to speak is given up. The Oath of Silence is day long and difficult to accomplish because of this challenge a button campaign to show visibility of the day's action has been established on our campus. The Queer Student Union at UC Santa Cruz programmed various events on the week Day of Silence fell on naming it "Queer Awareness Week," with a Town Hall meeting to address the issues of hate/racism/homophobia currently facing the University of California system and also hosting social events to break the silence such as a "Free Zone Lounge: Queereoke" to end the weeks efforts. This came with another effort to disperse "Queer Bomb" t-shirts, a tactic from UC Santa Barbara Queer Student Union to show visibility of the LGBT community that can be used at events/public spaces to make them a Safe Space when numerous individuals wear them.

 

Small or large, any effort on any campus is necessary to address the social injustices and campus climates of academic institutions that need to be comfortable and safe learning environments. This is why when the USSA and GLSEN came together in 2001, in order to support Day of Silence efforts in colleges and universities campuses to ensure that everyone could play a part of becoming agents of positive change.

- By Nestor Rivera, USSA National Queer Student Coalition Chair and University of California, Santa Cruz student

April Legislative Update Available

After an exciting and historic month of student activism and engagement, USSA's April 2010 Legislative Update is now available.  It covers the student aid reform legislation that was signed into law through the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, along with updates on the DREAM Act and the Budget and Appropriations process.

Click here to read the update.

USSA President Gregory Cendana on Workers Independent Network

During the Student Labor Week of Action, the Workers Independent Network radio station featured USSA President Gregory Cendana speaking about the DREAM Act:

Student/ labor support for passing the DREAM Act "shows the strong solidarity amongst a broad range of constituents... There are a lot of students and workers in this country and the fact that the oldest and largest student association and federation of labor unions are coming together on this issue is a very big deal."

Click here to listen.