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.
In the Fall MASSPIRG students here at Middlesex Community College collected bricks for our student wall of debt and delivered them to Representative Tsongas. Find out more about the victory at: http://masspirgstudents.org/higher-ed/victory
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.
Building support for global warming solutions.
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 and off to educate thousands of people, resulting in more than 100 news stories about our work.
Here at Middlesex we collected close to 70 photo petitions urging Governor Patrick to support a strong Global Warming Solutions Act by cutting our carbon 25% by the year 2020. In addition we generated more than 70 calls into Senator Brown’s office as part of the 72 hours of Clean Energy telling him that young people care about the environment.
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 students from Middlesex Community College joined students across the country for a day of service in our communities. Together, we raised also raised $750 for the Merrimack Valley food bank, Chelmsford Soup Kitchen, Red Cross Haiti Relief, and Oxfam’s Haiti Relief and national efforts to combat poverty.