Article Type: Report

Young Americans face “lasting damage” from the dual crises in the financial sector and in personal finance, making it urgent that Congress pass strong financial reform legislation.

To fix our roads and bridges, America first must fix our transportation policies. To counteract the tendencies to neglect repair and maintenance, we must adopt strong “fix-it first” rules that give priority to maintenance of our existing roads and bridges, set national goals for the condition of our transportation system, and hold state governments accountable for achieving results.

In March, the U.S. PIRG Education Fund released The Campus Credit Card Trap,[i] reporting the findings of a major survey of student attitudes toward the marketing of credit cards on college campuses. This follow-up paper outlines the recommended characteristics (terms and conditions) that credit cards marketed to college students should have to be considered “fair” to college students and other young people. Such fair cards should also be marketed subject to all of the PIRG marketing principles and be accompanied by independent financial education and literacy programs.

This study is an in-person survey of a diverse sample of over 1500 students, primarily single undergraduates, at 40 large and small schools and universities in 14 states around the country conducted between October 2007 and February 2008. It analyzes how students pay for their education, how many use and how they use credit cards and, as an important goal of the survey, their attitudes toward credit card marketing on campus and whether or not they support principles to rein in credit card marketing on campus.

America’s highways and airports are increasingly congested. Our nation’s transportation system remains dependent on oil. And our existing transportation infrastructure is inadequate to the demands of the 21st century. The United States should build an efficient and fast passenger rail network, with high-speed rail as a central component, to help address the nation’s transportation challenges in the 21st century.

New Briefing Paper Says College Students Need Consumer Financial Protection Agency to ‘Watchdog’ Risky Loans.

Without health care reform, the United States is projected to spend over $40 trillion on health care in the next decade. Experts estimate that thirty percent of that spending – up to $12 trillion dollars – will be wasted on ineffective care, pointless red tape, and counterproductive treatments that can actually harm patients.

Millions are being wasted due to antiquated voter registration systems and procedures. U.S. PIRG Education Fund’s survey of 100 counties showed that over $33,467,910.00 of public money was spent on simple registration implementation and error-correction issues in 2008. The Fund finds that a more streamlined and automatic system linking existing databases with the state voter rolls could free up significant resources at the local level.

Youth Vote Overview, 2007-2008
YOUNG PEOPLE put another brick in democracy’s foundation this election cycle. An estimated two million more young Americans under the age of 30 cast a ballot than in 2004. This increase followed a primary season in which young voter turnout rates doubled in states across the country—even tripling in Iowa, Mississippi, Florida and Oklahoma, and quadrupling in Tennessee.

A report by the USPIRG Higher Education Project estimates the impact of transferring $5 billion in student lender bank subsidies to Pell Grant recipients in each state.