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Statement of Rich Williams, U.S. PIRG Higher Education Advocate, on the Congressional passage of bipartisan legislation to prevent subsidized Stafford student loan interest rates from doubling.
Washington, D.C. – Over 9 million students are at risk for increased educational debt, due to bank-affiliated student debit cards that come with high fees, insufficient consumer protections, and few options. Financial institutions now have affinity partnerships with almost 900 campuses nationwide, grafting bank products onto student IDs and other campus cards to become the primary recipient of billions in federal financial aid to distribute to students.
Banks and other financial firms are taking advantage of a variety of opportunities to form partnerships with colleges and universities to produce campus student ID cards and to offer student aid disbursements on debit or prepaid cards. In addition to on-campus services, such as student ID functions offered on the card, some cards offer traditional debit card services linked to bank accounts; other cards provide additional reloadable prepaid card functions. The disbursement of financial aid and university refunds is the most significant partnership identified.
Here's my statement on the failure to move debate forward on a bill to prevent student loan interest rates from doubling this July.
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PIRG In The News
WASHINGTON — Ending one of the fiercest lobbying fights in Washington, Congress voted Thursday to force commercial banks out of the federal student loan market, cutting off billions of dollars in profits in a sweeping restructuring of financial-aid programs and redirecting most of the money to new education initiatives.
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Student leaders educate the campus about income inequality during National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. -
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We collect petition signatures - lots of them! -
Hunger and Homelessness intern Roua Aboukhadijeh collecting interview footage on campus for a short film on poverty. -
Students campaign for High Speed Rail. -
Fast Trains ARE Cool. -
Students volunteer at a local garden for the National Hunger Cleanup. -
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Volunteers wear the textbook mascot costumes to educate students about affordable textbook alternatives. -
Students posing with the textbook Rebellion books, We Want Cheaper TEXTBOOKS!! -
Textbook Rebel and Mr. $200 drew attention to outrageous textbook prices. -
Six media outlets covered a stop on the Textbooks Rebellion tour to promote affordable alternatives to outrageously expensive textbooks.
