There’s never a good time for the head of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators to get caught for fraud, but with Obama’s plan to reform education financing beginning the long crawl through Congress, there couldn’t be a worse time. Philip Day, the head of NASFAA, was recently charged with 8 felony counts.
The laundering seems mildly forgivable at first; most of the funds went towards local and state campaigns to benefit the state’s community college, his among them. But the funding could have gone to better use at the institution itself, rather than attempting to influence public opinion. Funds also went directly to reelection campaigns for local politicians.
An additional $45,000 in Pepsi payments to the college was allegedly diverted to what the district attorney called a “hidden account” in the college’s foundation. Day is charged with using these funds, according to the district attorney, “for expenses that could not, or were unlikely to be, reimbursed by City College, such as a City Club membership for himself, parking tickets, and alcoholic beverages at functions.”
It’s sad to see a man known for his work on behalf of low-income students be involved in the kind of fraud that hurt them. For shame. (more…)
The US Students Association has been interviewing students about how having to work while in school affects their studies, families, and more. They have collected some, pretty powerful videos so far. Many show the impact of the recession on working students, especially those with children.
These videos underscore the urgent need for more aid and support for students, especially “untraditional” students that are working long hours or caring for young children.
The House Committee on Education and Labor has put up a ton of information on their site about the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (or SAFRA as we like to call it around these parts.)
One of the most interesting and useful things on the website is a myth vs. fact crib sheet about student loans under the new plan. It debunks a lot of the misleading arguments that opponents of the bill are already using to try to bring Congress over to their side, and are sure to rely in the coming weeks and months as the debate heats up.
Be sure to check it out so you will be armed with the facts to defend the bill, and take action today to tell Congress why they should support this landmark legislation!
In a stunning victory for our friends over at Green for All, last minute equity provisions were added to the American Clean Energy Act to ensure that disadvantaged and low-income communities will get access to trainings and resources and be at the forefront of the clean energy economy.
1. $860 million allocated to the Green Jobs Act. The Green Jobs Act, a major legislative victory for Green For All last year, creates training opportunities for workers who need new skills for clean energy jobs. Such programs promise to be the first step out of poverty for many who are in desperate need of work.
2. Local access to quality jobs, through the creation of a green-construction, careers-demonstration program. Rep.Bobby Rush authored this demonstration program, which will promote middle-class careers and quality employment practices in the green construction sector. The language in the bill empowers the Secretaries of Labor and Energy to ensure job quality standards for these green construction jobs. It also ensures that a portion of the jobs will be accessible to low-income and local workers.
These new provisions will guarantee that this highly touted Clean Energy Jobs bill will prioritize those people who have been left behind by the old dirty economy and their importance is critical considering the shortage of trained clean energy professionals in the United States. Low-income and disadvantaged communities will be able to take advantage of these programs and become the workers who will save us from the worst effects of the climate crisis. Money invested in building retrofits create many times more jobs than in dirty fuels while also producing (saving) much more energy. Programs like these deserve funding in a climate bill, not earmarks to Carbon Capture and Sequestration and handouts to polluters.
Congratulations to Green for All, their partners and every one of you who took action to make this deeply flawed bill a more equitable one.
Progressives are coming together on the Hill to fight hard for health care reform. Check out this great article on Daily Kos:
I’ve seen the Congressional Progressive Caucus’s most recent whip list for healthcare reform, and it’s–to say the least–very encouraging. It’s also a testament to the longterm efforts of nyceve and the netroots community to keep healthcare reform alive as an issue for the past several years. As of last week, a total of 50 CPC members vow to vote against any bill that did not meet their criteria for a public option.
Let me reiterate–50 members have said they will not vote for a bill that does not meet these criteria.
It’s been 13 days; 13 days of markups(which Senator Dodd quips might be a new record), 13 days of partisangames, 13 days of financial hijinks and fake scandals, and finally, on the 13th day, the Health Education and Labor & Pensions(HELP) Committee passed the “Quality, Affordable Health Coverage for All Americans” bill! The bill has emerged from committee, passing along partisan lines, and is now ready for the next step of being combined with the Senate Finance Committee bill before being voted on by the entire Senate.So what does it look like?
- This post was written by Kate Callahan, Communications and Lobby Day Intern, Campus Progress.
Last Thursday, the morning after the 2009 Campus Progress National Conference, a hundred young people participated in a lobby day on Capitol Hill where they met with their elected officials demanding action on the issues that will determine what economic opportunities our generation will have, specifically health care reform, green job creation, and college affordability. The Lobby Day was co-sponsored by Campus Progress Action, Health Care For America Now, Energy Action Coalition and the Student PIRGs.
The committed early risers woke up with an assortment of coffee, fruit, bagels and pastries while listening to a motivational speech by Campus Progress Deputy Director Erica Williams and Advocacy Associate Tommaso Boggia on the dos and don’ts of lobbying, before splitting off into issue training groups. The students were then set free with schedules in hand to navigate through halls of Senate offices in Hart, Dirksen and Russell, as well as House offices in Rayburn, Longworth and Canon. Some were dressed in oversized graduation gowns and arm slings to emphasize their points.
“Campus Progress applauds President Obama’s new community college initiative, which would allow millions of Americans to pursue higher education and become more competitive in the workforce.
The funding of this new initiative depends in part on passage of legislation enacting the President’s proposal to switch to all direct lending for federally-guaranteed student loans. That plan would save the government approximately $87 billion over 10 years, and part of this savings – $12 billion – would be used to fund the community college initiative.
Thus, a clear choice has just become that much more obvious: Congress can vote for more wasteful subsidies for banks, or they can stand with young people and displaced workers seeking an education.”
While Campus Progress was busy organizing 1,500 young activists and journalists for our National Conference last week, Congress has been busy nailing down the details of health care reform.
The HELP Committee in the Senate has been in mark up for the Affordable Health Choices Act for 12 days now (almost a record for how many days Congress allows amendments to proposed legislation). Committee members hope to complete mark up today in an effort to have the bill voted on before the August recess.
I personally don’t think it’s going to happen by then. It is only two weeks away, and so far Committee members are pulling out every trick in the book to delay and obstruct this health care bill.
Republican committee members have proposed about 70 amendments to the health reform legislation, only to turn around and vote against about 64 of them. Who votes against their own amendments? People who are playing games, that’s who. But they are playing games with our future, and we don’t think it’s funny.
Republicans have been spending the recent days in mark up discussing amendments for health care reform that have nothing to do with how to make health care affordable or more accessible, but instead focus on abortion and euthanasia.
This seemed to be Senator Hatch’s (R- Utah) biggest concern; his question was not ‘how are we going to insure the 47 million Americans lacking health coverage?’, but ‘how are we going to ensure that reform doesn’t force plans to cover abortion providers?’. (more…)
According to an article in the New York Times, the House Committee on Education and Labor will be introducing legislation this week along the lines of President Obama’s proposal to cut wasteful subsidies to student loan companies and use the $87 billion in savings to make college more affordable for low and middle income students.
Loan companies circulated at least 13 different plans on Capitol Hill, lobbied furiously against the President’s proposal, and finally (almost) uniting around a single “Frankenstein” counter-proposal. It now looks like these efforts have failed to influence the shape of the legislation that will be considered in the House Education and Labor Committee. (more…)
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for July, 2009.
In a stunning victory for our friends over at Green for All, last minute equity provisions were added to the American Clean Energy Act to ensure that disadvantaged and low-income communities will get access to trainings and resources and be at the forefront of the clean energy economy.
It’s been 13 days; 13 days of markups(which Senator Dodd quips might be a new record), 13 days of 
Last Thursday, the morning after the 2009 Campus Progress National Conference, a hundred young people participated in a lobby day on Capitol Hill where they met with their elected officials demanding action on the issues that will determine what economic opportunities our generation will have, specifically health care reform, green job creation, and college affordability. The Lobby Day was co-sponsored by Campus Progress Action, 
While Campus Progress was busy organizing 1,500 young activists and journalists for our 