Accomplishments 2009-2010
Passing the largest student financial aid law in history.
In March, President Obama signed the largest student loan bill in history into law. The new law increases financial aid for students by $36 billion, and it won't cost taxpayers a dime because it's funded by cutting wasteful hand-outs to banks and loan companies like Sallie Mae and Citibank. Across the country 10,000 of you called, wrote, emailed, and tweeted your Congressmen asking them to take action. In addition, our DC staff worked tirelessly to bring your message to legislators and their staff.
NJPIRG intern Sam Obergh was invited to DC to speak on Capitol Hill alongside Congressional leaders at a rally held in support of college affordability and the reconciliation bill. To celebrate the victory and make sure our elected officials know we’re paying attention to their stance on higher education, we worked with RUSA to organize a victory party and press conference on College Ave. Senator Menendez, President McCormick, Mayor Cahill, Congressman Pallone joined student leaders to speak in celebration and talked about what the reform means for students. Of course, there was also cake!
Stopping the worst unfair practices by credit companies.
In February the Credit CARD Act went into effect. This law protects students and ends some of the worst unfair practices of credit card companies, making it illegal for credit card companies to profit by tricking people into paying late. It was the outcry of students like you that passed this law, and the banks aren't happy about it - this is the first time in 40 years any law opposed by credit card companies has passed.
Reforming the health care system in order to make health care affordable.
Despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent by the insurance industry to stop reform, health insurance reform became law. Our priority has been to make health care affordable. This law takes unprecedented steps to lower costs for families and small businesses, and it prohibits insurers from using pre-existing conditions, errors on forms, and lifetime or yearly caps to drop your coverage or price it out of reach. It also helps young adults – a highly uninsured demographic - by allowing them to stay on their parents’ coverage until age 26. Here at Rutgers we collected hundred of signatures to our senators advocating the healthcare bill.
Protecting the Environment.
We're calling on the Senate to build a clean energy economy that will create jobs and enhance America’s national security while protecting the environment. Across the country, we mobilized over 30,000 students and community members to contact their Senators to call for clean, renewable energy and an end to our dependence on oil and coal. We held events on campus, like a tour of the Rutgers solar field, to educate thousands of people, resulting in more than 100 news stories about our work.
We also launched Energy Service Corps, a joint project with Americorps, to educate and engage New Jersey communities about energy efficiency. We performed 19 energy audits and 14 weatherizations. We also went into local schools and educate over 600 K-12 graders about energy efficiency.
Our Water Watch campaign organized three Raritan River clean-up events that brought out over 325 volunteers to 4 locations around town to foster stewardship clean up our water ways.
Helping rebuild Haiti, and fighting poverty here at home.
It's been a tough year for many American families, and the earthquake in Haiti has affected millions. Through our annual Hunger Cleanup 100 Rutgers students joined 5,000 students across the country for a day of service in our communities. We raised raised over $5,000 for a Better World Cafe, a joint project of Elijah's Promise and Who's My Neighbor, Oxfam’s Haiti Relief and national efforts to combat poverty.