Student PIRGs

WASHINGTON — Today, congressional leaders from both parties introduced legislation that could save American college students nearly a billion dollars on textbooks.

WASHINGTON — After being asked to comment on U.S. PIRG Education Fund’s report on oversized fees on college students’ checking accounts, Wells Fargo announced that it would be eliminating some fees on its campus debit cards.

WASHINGTON — Attending college can be one of the most expensive endeavors Americans face. According to U.S. PIRG Education Fund’s new report, Debit Cards on Campus: Putting Student Financial Well-Being At Risk, many banks are adding to that expense by partnering with schools to offer and aggressively market new checking accounts to students.

UC Berkeley becomes biggest American university to fully commit to clean energy

The Student PIRGs and Environment America, along with students across the country, will launch 50 campaigns in 15 states this year, imploring colleges and universities to generate 100 percent of their energy from renewable sources.

CHICAGO: Today, McDonald’s released a new policy to restrict medically important antibiotic use in its beef supply chain.  The company says it will immediately start measuring and assessing antibiotic use in its top ten beef sourcing markets. Then, by the end of 2020. McDonald’s plans to set targets for lower use of medically-important antibiotics. 

Last week, the Student PIRGs released a new Environment America Research & Policy Center report report detailing 11 strategies and tools that universities can use to move towards meeting 100 percent of their energy needs with renewable sources.

Environment America designed this series of 11 fact sheets as a resource for students, faculty and administrators interested in moving their campuses toward 100 percent clean, renewable energy. The fact sheets have been crafted to illustrate the importance, challenges and opportunities of 11 technologies and strategies. Each fact sheet includes two case studies of effective action on college campuses, as well as a list of resources.

TAMPA, FL- All preliminary results point to a record breaking surge in youth voter turnout in the 2018 midterm elections. Students working with the Public Interest Research Groups’ New Voters Project made over 375,000 Get Out the Vote contacts in 11 states.

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!