This Holiday Season, lend $25 to a Student to help them achieve their Higher Ed Dreams.

This video pretty much makes me cry.



Lend a minimum of $25 here on Vittana. 100% of the money you lend through the Vittana website goes to the student, via two intermediaries - Vittana and a partner microfinance institution located in the student's own community. When the student repays the loan, the $25 comes back to you. For further details go here.

I blogged about one of Vittana's co-founders a while ago, here. Tonight I discovered that Vittana's Partnerships Manager, Nick Cane, is a former Kiva Fellow!

Kiva launched its own student loan program on Sept 20. Through the Student Microloans program, Kiva lenders can make a $25 loan to students in Bolivia, Paraguay and Ecuador.



The new program got off to a good start! Just saw this: "Today, Kiva.org posted profiles for 36 students, seeking a total of $19,250.00. We are currently on track to fund all of those loans in full, within 12 hours of being posted on the site," said Kiva president Premal Shah, in an email. "While this pilot is only a small step toward broadening access to student loan funding around the world, we plan to keep a close eye on the program's success in an effort to expand the organization's reach to a number of different countries and a larger group of students in need of funding."

I recently volunteered for one of Kiva's partner organizations located here in San Francisco - Opportunity Fund. Opportunity Fund serves as an intermediary between Kiva (and Kiva's lenders), and the clients. I called Opportunity Fund clients who had graduated from the savings program. Most of these clients had engaged in the savings program to finance higher education opportunities. Calling the clients to congratulate them on achieving their savings goals was a lot of fun!

In addition to Kiva, Opportunity Fund also works with another institution also offering higher education loans to students - Lumni. From the Lumni website: Individuals can invest in local students in a variety of ways including through a tax-deductible donation or by purchasing a low-interest note with a fixed return. In addition to the dual financial and social return of this investment, contributors are helping prove an efficient, sustainable new system for giving students access to college without the burden of a traditional student loan.

Lumni does not allow individuals to make small ($25) loans to students, but since I love what they are doing, I thought I'd mention them:) Also love that two members of the team are linked to Ashoka.

Here's how they work, and the story behind Lumni:



Lumni's business model reminded me of a thought-provoking discussion that took place at a March 3 event that I attended here in San Francisco, about Life Investments. Just something to think about! :)

Health Care & Student Loan Reform Highlights for Young Americans

Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office released this great summary today. Click on the word "Fullscreen" below for a better view of the doc.

04.08.2010 Young Americans Hcrhe

White House & Huffington Post host “Open for Questions” Live Chat on Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act - Tomorrow, Fri April 9

Tomorrow (Friday April 9) at 9:15 AM EST, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Melody Barnes, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council will participate in a Live Online Chat to discuss the Student Aid and Fiscal Relief Act. Also participating in the chat will be Jose Antonio Vargas of the Huffington Post and Amanda Litman of Northwestern University.

You can join the chat on the White House website and the Huffington Post website.

Questions for the chat were solicited from students across the country -- from public and private schools of all sizes -- via the Huffington Post’s college newspaper network. The Huffington Post published questions to its website for a public vote and, 150,000 votes later, an editor of one of the participating college newspapers and a representative from the Huffington Post will present the final video questions to be answered at the White House.

5 Myths about Student Loan Reform Debunked

Campus Progress circulated this PDF today with counterpoints to the student loan companies (and a few US Senators) who are claiming that student loan reform measures are bad for a variety of reasons ...

For example:

Myth 2: Passage of student loan reform legislation will result in the loss of thousands of loan industry jobs.

“The student-loan provisions buried in the health care legislation intentionally eliminate private-sector jobs at a time when our country can least afford to lose them." -- Sallie Mae Spokeswoman Martha Holler, March 22, 2010


Fact: There will be no shortage of work for loan companies under the new reforms; all current loans under the old Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) will still need to be serviced, as will all new loans made under the Direct Loan Program (DLP), and the same big lenders have already lined up for contracts to service new loans.

In fact, student loan giant Sallie Mae has announced it is in the process of bringing back 3,400 jobs from overseas. These jobs are returning to the U.S., at least in part, so that the company can be eligible for Department of Education contracts to service Direct Loans. In addition, most loan companies today do more than make federal student loans. Many offer consultation services to schools, private student loans, collections services, and other products and services, and will continue to be in business and employing people for these activities after reform is passed.

Companies like Sallie Mae seem to be playing politics with jobs, frequently changing their job loss estimates, and exaggerating the impact that the legislation will have on their workforce. Opponents of reform have claimed that 30,000 to 35,000 private sector jobs would be lost, but this is a very rough estimate of the total number of jobs that are involved in the FFELP program. No one seriously believes that job losses—even in the worst possible estimation—would approach this figure.

In addition, the bill’s investments in community colleges and minority serving institutions, made possible by ending the lender subsidies, will save and create jobs. And by expanding educational opportunity, the reforms will enable more young people to gain the skills and experience necessary to enter the workforce, thereby creating more jobs and strengthening the economy in the long term.


Excellent stuff.

Student Loan Reform! Another Reason to pass the Health Care Bill!

photo: Congressman George Miller, Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Check out this March 12th blog post - Pelosi And Miller Affirm That Student Loan Overhaul Will Be Included In Health Care Package.

BINGO!

But the bill still needs to pass the US House of Representatives, and student student aid reform language has yet to be introduced in the Senate. So keep those letters coming! Send your Senators a letter supporting student aid reform!


I'm on a youth conference call with the White House on health care reform and was just informed that minutes ago, the White House publicly announced that President Obama will be speaking on Friday at George Mason Patriot Center about health care. Event is open to the public - first come, first served. Doors open at 9am, event begins at 11:30am. Details - including a link to the Facebook event - here on the White House website.


Another upcoming event - the 41st Annual Grassroots Legislative Conference and National Student Lobby Day in Washington, DC, March 20-23rd.

Help Save Obama's Student Loan Overhaul Plans :: Today's THE DAY to call the US Senate

I became extremely frustrated when I read this article, "Obama's Student Loan Overhaul Endangered" in the New York Times this morning, indicating that the US Senate may not include federal student aid funding reform in the budget reconciliation bill that the US Senate is considering today.

If you are going to take action on this issue, then today is the day! The US Student Association has made it super easy for you.

Step 1: Call 1-888-254-5087

Step 2: Give the switchboard operator who answers the phone your senator's name, and ask to be transferred to the senator's office. (Repeat the process for your other senator.)

Step 3: When your senator's aide answers the phone, use this script:

"Hi, my name is____. I a am calling today to urge Senator_______ to support students by putting Student Aid Reform in the Budget Reconciliation process. If student aid reform is not included, the maximum Pell Grant will be cut by thousands of dollars. 500,000 students will lose their Pell grants and 8,000,000 students will see their awards cut by 60%. This is UNACCEPTABLE.

Will Senator______ support students by including student aid reform in the budget reconciliation process?

Thank you for supporting students, have a good day.

Once you've taken action, please alert your friends about this via Facebook and Twitter. Here's a suggested Tweet:

"URGENT: Call 1-888-254-5087 to ask your Senators to support #SAFRA in the reconciliation bill. They ARE deciding today!! CALL NOW!"

March 4 Education across the USA

photo: UC Berkeley campus. The students are referencing the decision made by the University of California (UC) Board of Regents to raise UC system student fees (tuition) 32%, beginning with the 2010 - 2011 school year.

100+ protests against public education cuts took place in 30+ states yesterday.

Much of the action took place in the State of California.


photo: UC Davis campus

From this March 3rd CNN article: State funding for the California State University system was reduced by nearly $1 billion for the academic years between 2008 and 2010. Schools have responded by increasing fees, canceling classes, cutting student support programs and furloughing professors.

From 2002 to 2009 fees increased by 182 percent, and annual 10 percent increases are expected.

"The less affordable education becomes, the less likely low-income students will be able to get a college education," said Lillian Taiz, president of the California Faculty Association and professor of history at California State University, Los Angeles.

Alejandro Lara-Briseno -- the first in his family to attend college -- now doubts he will be able to finish. "I remember when I was accepted to the University of California, Berkeley, my mother started crying," he said.

"The university administration is not discussing with students or unions their decisions to cut recruitment and retainment centers that help minority students," he said.



photo: UCLA campus


From this March 4 NYT article: One of the largest demonstrations in California took place here on the north steps of the Capitol, where more than 1,000 people used drums, bullhorns, and scores of young voices to try to get their message across.

“How are we going to save the future if we can’t even get into our classes?” said Reid E. Milburn, the president of the Student Senate for California Community Colleges, referring to tuition increases and reductions in the number of courses.


photo: Los Angeles City College campus

To stay in the loop, keep reading UC Berkeley's student newspaper The Daily Californian. Here's a sample of the paper's reporting. If you get impatient while watching the video then skip to 3:30 minutes and watch through to the end.

VP Biden's plans for Student Loan Debt Relief

Vice President Joe Biden released the Annual Report of the White House Task Force on the Middle Class today. The report contains the findings of a committee that has spent the past year researching ways to improve the living conditions of working and middle class families.

The Task Force concluded that among the most effective ways to help American families secure economic stability is increasing college access and affordability.

The Task Force's February 15th blog post states that:

Over the past three decades, college tuition has grown ten times faster than real median incomes for families with children. So it’s no surprise that about two-thirds of graduates take out loans to pay for college and their average debt is over $23,000. But we didn’t need statistics to understand how challenging it can be to pay for college; the Vice President and other members of the Task Force heard about it directly from students, parents, faculty and administrators when we held meetings at Syracuse University and the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

The Task Force’s findings include budget recommendations for the Fiscal Year 2011, including:

* Capping student loan payments at 10% of a borrower’s income and forgiving debt after twenty years, shifting all federal lending to the Direct Loan program, which would allocate $80+ billion to need-based aid and access and retention programs.

* Extending the American Opportunity Tax Credit, and making historic investments in community colleges and Minority Serving Institutions.

It's encouraging that the recommendation to shift lending to the Direct Loan program is the key feature in the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which passed the US House of Representatives in September and is currently pending in the US Senate.

Nationwide March 4th Day of Action in Defense of Public Education

The March 4th Day of Action in Defense of Public Education was inspired by the demonstration of student power during the University of California Board of Regents vote to increase fees 32%, tripling the cost of a UC education from a decade ago.

I've posted this video before, but in case you missed it ... it was made for an Intro to Communication class at the University of California San Diego, and was filmed on campus at UCSD.



Organizers of the March 4th Day of Action are working to expand this California energy to a national campaign to fight for increased educational access.

To participate visit the Day of Action's website in order to find the contact information for your local organizer. Actions have been planned around the USA.


Two pieces of federal legislation that might interest student advocates:
* A companion bill to the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act needs to be passed in the Senate to help ensure that the student loan industry works for students instead of big lenders.

* The DREAM Act must pass, throwing open the college doors for thousands of deserving undocumented students.

Good News from the White House for Student Loan Borrowers

Yesterday the White House's Middle Class Task Force, chaired by VP Joe Biden, proposed strengthening the Income-Based Repayment Program. IBR was established through the College Coast Reduction and Access Act of 2007, and went into effect last July.

The Middle Class Task Force's proposal would:
* Lower the cap on federal student loan repayments from 15% of a borrower's discretionary income to 10%.

* Shorten the time it takes to forgive student loan debt from 25 years to 20 years.

These proposed changes will be included in President Obama’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2011. President Obama will send his budge proposal to Congress on February 1st.

Check the Middle Class Task Force's official blog for more info.

In addition to these proposed changes to IBR, the US Senate is considering student aid reform legislation.

To learn more about the Middle Class Task Force watch President Obama and VP Biden's announcement on YouTube -Part 1 and Part 2.

A College Education :: Priceless

Some background: On Tuesday, November 17th the University of California's Board of Regents approved a 32%, or $2,500, increase in undergraduate fees.


Here's a new YouTube video about the fee hikes. It was made for an Intro to Communication class at the University of California San Diego, and was filmed on campus at UCSD.




I found this video on the blog Student Activism, which is run by one of the panelists @ this upcoming event:

Campus Progress invites you to...

Is College Only for the Rich? Student Organizing for College Affordability

Wednesday, December 2, 2009 - 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Center for American Progress - 1333 H Street NW, 10th Floor, Washington, DC 20005


With fees increasing 32% for University of California students, amid passionate protests, college affordability is making headlines once again, at a time when college affordability reform legislation awaits action in the Senate. This panel will examine the implications of the tuition debate in California, and look ahead at efforts to make college more affordable and accessible on the institutional, state, and federal levels.

Congressman Tim Bishop (D-NY) will give the opening remarks.

Speakers for this event include Victor Sanchez, president of the University of California Student Association; Bruce Cain, executive director of the University of California - Washington Center who will be speaking on behalf of the administration; Angus Johnston, a historian of student social movements, and blogger at www.studentactivism.net; and Campus Progress's Pedro de la Torre, a policy expert on student financial aid. The panel will be moderated by Erica Williams, Deputy Director of Campus Progress.

Click here to RSVP.

Food and Refreshments will be served.

If you cannot attend in person then check out the live stream here!

Sponsored by Campus Progress and the United States Student Association, and US PIRG.

If you have questions, please email speakers@campusprogress.org.

Is College Only For The Rich?

This is an update to my November 11th post "Making College More Affordable."

Campus Progress has raised money to put this 30 second spot on cable TV and on Hulu in key states across the country:



Since the organization doesn't have the kind of money that student loan companies have, the organization is going to need your help spreading the above ad on Facebook, Twitter, and email to get the word out.

Campus Progress also helped get this ad printed in the Washington, DC politics newspaper Politico, yesterday.

Making College More Affordable

I received the below message today from the Center for American Progress -

As you know, the US House of Representatives passed a student aid bill last month, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (HR 3221), that will cut $87 billion in wasteful subsidies for student loan companies and instead put that money towards making college more affordable and accessible.

Now the bill's on its way to the US Senate, but student loan companies are doing everything they can to stop it.

Student loan giant Sallie Mae has already spent more than a quarter million dollars(that we know of) on newspaper ads trying to stop the bill, along with at least $3 million on lobbying. Another anti-student aid group hired the PR firm Qorvis Communications that offered to pay "experts" to write op-eds and appear on TV to criticize an investigation into AIG a few years ago.

To fight back, we need to make sure the newspapers know what actual students think of the bill. We're set up a system for people from across the country to email letters to their local papers and say that congress should invest in students, not banks.

Click here to write a letter to your local paper.

We've put up a sample letter & talking points to make it quick and easy, and you can use our online system to find your paper and send your letter with just two clicks.

Thanks for all that you're doing,

Pedro de la Torre III
Advocacy Senior Associate for Campus Progress
The Center for American Progress


If you are interested in this issue then check out the United States Student Association. The Nation did a great piece on the nonprofit last week, which you can read here.

Fortunately Obama is on our side -- speculation is that if the the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act makes it onto his desk, then he will sign it into law. This video came out in May --

New Student Loan Repayment Assistance Program