In September, Congress passed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, touted as the most meaningful higher education reform in more than 15 years, addressing the dual financial challenges of access and affordability that face college students.

The act provides billions of dollars a year in additional grant aid to low-income students and includes reforms to help lower student loan debt. The investment in education is paid for by lowering subsidies to private banks.

“The bill trims excessive subsidies that benefit a handful of banks,” said PIRG advocate Luke Swarthout. “The bipartisan votes for this legislation are testament to the broad support for helping students and families pay for college.”

A statewide effort to establish quality affordable healthcare for all Oregonians was launched with the first official meeting of the newly-appointed Oregon Health Fund Board in October 2007.

“Oregon has an opportunity to enact real reform to cut healthcare costs and improve quality,” said Laura Etherton, OSPIRG advocate, who serves on the Board’s Finance Committee. “Consumers are paying too much and getting less and less under the existing system.”

The effort was put into motion through passage of The Healthy Oregon Act. Between now and the fall, Oregonians will be meeting to discuss the specifics of how to make sure everyone has access to affordable, quality health care. The resulting proposal may become a bill that will go before the Legislature in 2009.

Students and parents have stronger tools in the fight for affordable textbooks, thanks to an OSPIRG-backed law that went into effect on Jan. 1.

Under the new law, publishers will need to be clearer about prices and options. And they’ll have to give faculty the option of only ordering the books they want students to buy, as opposed to “bundling” textbooks together with pricey CDs and workbooks they don’t need for the class.

Textbook costs increased four times the rate of inflation between 1994 and 2003. Research conducted by the OSPIRG student chapters, and confirmed by a survey by the Oregon Student Association, found that the average Oregon student spends $900 each year on textbooks.