Make Higher Education Affordable

Student Debt Is Skyrocketing

Higher education in America continues to be critical for both individual success and the social and economic health of our country. While college attendance has grown over the past two decades, state appropriations and federal aid have failed to keep pace with the rising cost of college, shifting more costs to students. As a result, more students than ever must rely on student loans to pay for a college degree, with the average borrower now graduating with over $26,000 in loan debt.

Heavy student loan debt carries negative consequences for borrowers, who must make monthly payments with their hard-earned dollars rather than save up and get ahead. High debt can affect where graduates live, the kind of careers they pursue, when they start a family or purchase a home, and whether they can save for retirement. The combination of high student debt and low earnings can lead to default, ruined credit and wage garnishment. Such distress runs counter to the goal of higher education.

The U.S. PIRG Higher Education Project is working to:

1. Keep loans affordable: This July, interest rates will double on the subsidized Stafford loans that almost 8 million students use to pay for school. U.S. PIRG is campaigning to prevent interest rates from doubling and advocating for more and better repayment options once a student graduates.

2. Increase grant aid to students, such as the Pell Grant: The Pell Grant is the federal government's cornerstone financial aid program, providing scholarship aid to almost 10 million students of modest income each year. U.S. PIRG is making sure that every student can rely on their grant to stay in school and make it to graduation.

3. Make textbooks affordable: Textbook prices are rising four times faster than inflation, leaving the average student now paying over $1,100 every year for textbooks. After working to end many tricks the publishing industry used to increase prices unfairly, U.S. PIRG is fostering real competition in the textbook market place by promoting more affordable options like open textbooks and open education resources.

Issue updates

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News

News Post | Higher Ed

LibreTexts wins inaugural Open Textbook Pilot grant | Kaitlyn Vitez

Big news (and savings) for students.

Report | Higher Ed

ACCESS DENIED: The New Face of the Textbook Monopoly

Across institutions and majors, an average of 32% of courses included access codes among the required course materials. At institutional bookstores, the average cost of an access code sold solo – i.e., not bundled with a textbook or primary course material of any form – was $100.24.

Report | Higher Ed

ACCESS DENIED: The New Face of the Textbook Monopoly

Across institutions and majors, an average of 32% of courses included access codes among the required course materials. At institutional bookstores, the average cost of an access code sold solo – i.e., not bundled with a textbook or primary course material of any form – was $100.24.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Higher Ed

Open Textbooks Pilot renewed, saving college students up to $50 million

Today, Congress set aside $5 million to renew the Open Textbook Pilot program for FY19, which gives grants to colleges and universities to promote adoption of free and open textbooks by professors. The program could save students up to $50 million.

News Release | Higher Ed

70+ Student Leaders Call On Congress to Renew Open Textbook Pilot

As Congress finalizes its FY19 budget, student leaders call on their senators and representatives to renew funding for last years' Open Textbook Pilot, which has the potential to save students more than $50 million.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Higher Ed

Open Textbooks Pilot renewed, saving college students up to $50 million

Today, Congress set aside $5 million to renew the Open Textbook Pilot program for FY19, which gives grants to colleges and universities to promote adoption of free and open textbooks by professors. The program could save students up to $50 million.

News Release | Higher Ed

70+ Student Leaders Call On Congress to Renew Open Textbook Pilot

As Congress finalizes its FY19 budget, student leaders call on their senators and representatives to renew funding for last years' Open Textbook Pilot, which has the potential to save students more than $50 million.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Higher Ed

U.S. PIRG statement on the resignation of Seth Frotman, CFPB Student Loan Ombudsman

> Keep Reading

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Higher Ed

FY18 Open Textbooks Program Appropriation an Important Step for College Students

Statement by Kaitlyn Vitez, higher education advocate for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, on the inclusion of an open textbook program appropriation in the FY18 omnibus budget just introduced in Congress.

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Higher Ed

USPIRG Statement on Department of Education rule on Preemption of student loan servicing

Now that the U.S. Department of Education has said that state efforts to stop unfair and deceptive actions by federal student loan servicers are pre-empted by weaker federal law, student loan borrowers who have been misled by the financial firms servicing their student loans have lost access to strong consumer protections in the states. The Education Department's interpretation clears the path for predatory lenders and institutions to continue taking advantage of students seeking higher education.

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Result | Higher Ed

Protecting students from unfair bank fees

We helped win protections for students from unfair fees associated with campus bank accounts. The new rules, released by the U.S. Department of Education, ban some of the worst and most predatory fees that students encounter from banks.

Result | Higher Ed

Stopping Student Loan Interest Rates from Doubling

With college student debt reaching record levels, it is essential that we stop adding to students' loan burden. In spring 2012, U.S. PIRG speaheaded a coalition to stop the interest rate on federal Stafford student loans from doubling from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. This increase would have cost eight million students an additional $1,000 per loan. At the coalition's urging, Congress came together to find a bipartisan solution, extending the low interest rate for an additional year.

Result | Higher Ed

Keeping Higher Education Affordable

With the rising cost of higher education, it's critical to protect the federal financial aid programs that make college affordable for millions of students. U.S. PIRG helped lead the campaign that passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which makes huge investments in financial aid by ending sweetheart subsidies for big banks and student loan companies.

Report | Higher Ed

ACCESS DENIED: The New Face of the Textbook Monopoly

Across institutions and majors, an average of 32% of courses included access codes among the required course materials. At institutional bookstores, the average cost of an access code sold solo – i.e., not bundled with a textbook or primary course material of any form – was $100.24.

Report | Higher Ed

ACCESS DENIED: The New Face of the Textbook Monopoly

Across institutions and majors, an average of 32% of courses included access codes among the required course materials. At institutional bookstores, the average cost of an access code sold solo – i.e., not bundled with a textbook or primary course material of any form – was $100.24.

Report | The Student PIRGs | Higher Ed

Open 101

Skyrocketing textbook prices for common university courses are adding insult to the burdensome debt students assume to pay for college. This new report investigates those high textbook prices for common courses at schools across the country.

Report | U.S. PIRG | Higher Ed

Covering the Cost

A report explaining why decision-makers can no longer afford to ignore high textbook prices.

Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund and the Student PIRGs | Higher Ed

Affordable Textbooks: A Policy Guide

A guide to policy on textbook affordability through the development of open-source textbooks.

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News Post | Higher Ed

LibreTexts wins inaugural Open Textbook Pilot grant | Kaitlyn Vitez

Big news (and savings) for students.

News Post | Higher Ed

“You might want to tell your instructors about this:” students as sales reps? | Kaitlyn Vitez

In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the education community has worried about how student personal and behavioral data gathered from access codes will be (mis)used for. Here's one example.

News Post | Higher Ed

FY18 Open Textbooks Program Appropriation: the next step toward textbook affordability | Kaitlyn Vitez

“A college degree is essential these days, but I can’t get it if I don’t have the books I need to actually succeed in class,” Walter Dodson, a student at the University of Connecticut at Storrs, told me. “If you’re shocked at how expensive college is right now, I can’t imagine how ridiculous it will be in twenty years.”

News Post | Higher Ed

Consumer, Student Education Groups Defend CFPB To Congress | Chris Lindstrom

Nearly 60 student, consumer, and education groups signed on to this letter that was sent up to the Hill on Monday, February 13. It calls for the CFPB to remain a strong, independent agency, so it can protect student loan borrowers (and taxpayers) from predatory lending tactics.

News Post | Higher Ed

Senate Banking Committee On Student Loans and Campus Cards | Ed Mierzwinski

Last week the U.S. Senate Banking Committee heard recommendations on campus banking and student loan issues from student advocates, including U.S. PIRG Higher Education Program Director Christine Lindstrom. The hearing also featured a spirited exchange between Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA) and a bank witness concerning the failure of private student lenders to give student-consumers more options to re-finance or defer their loans, including in cases of extreme undue hardship, such as when the borrower dies suddenly.

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