With a month and a half left until Election Day, the Oregon Student Vote Coalition has registered at least 6,000 new voters at colleges and universities across the state. The group, which includes the Oregon Student Association, OSPIRG (Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group), Building Votes, and the Oregon Community College Student Association, hopes to register a total of 18,000 student voters by the end of the voter registration period.

Hannah Weyh, an OSPIRG intern and volunteer with the Oregon Student Vote Coalition at
Portland State University, says, "I'm really proud of the work we've done so far. We've already registered 1,200 fellow PSU students. Our goal is to register 2,300 more voters by the registration deadline on October 17th, and we'll be talking to every student on campus until we get there."

The Oregon Student Vote Coalition is a statewide, nonpartisan youth voter registration effort. Organizations working with the coalition are utilizing peer-to-peer recruitment strategies that have a proven track record in increasing youth participation. These strategies include student-driven efforts to register young voters through on-campus events, class presentations, and social events and by going door-to-door in dorms and student-dense neighborhoods.

"We know that young volunteers reaching out to their peers is the best way to increase voter registration and mobilization," says Stephanie Erickson of Building Votes, one of several organizations working at the University of Oregon. "Massive outreach efforts for Oregon's 2004 election resulted in young voter turnout increasing eight percentage points over the state's 2000 levels. This year, we're building on that momentum by registering college students on campuses and in student-heavy neighborhoods across the state." Erickson, who graduated from the University of Oregon in 2006, was Senate President at UO, and was chair of the Student PIRGs for one year.

Student volunteers say their classmates are responding positively to the registration campaign and that young people are excited about participating in this year's election. "This election is crucial for students," said Oregon Student Association Board Chair Megan Driver. "With students paying the highest tuition in history and more in debt than ever, we cannot afford to let our voices go unheard. We're telling students how we've built power to win victories by voting in past elections. We're encouraging students to take control of their education with their ballots."

Here's some news that most of us know already know too much about.......

(Source: http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/31/student.loans.ap/)

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MOST COLLEGE GRADUATES IN DEBT

Wednesday, May 31, 2006; Posted: 9:42 a.m. EDT (13:42 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nearly two of every three undergraduate students are going into debt to go to college, owing an average of more than $19,000, most often to the government.

Among a dozen states sampled, New York students averaged the largest loans, while those in Oregon and Minnesota were most likely to have borrowed.

About 65 percent of students who graduated in the 2003-2004 school year did so after getting student loans, according to the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics.

For students who took out loans, the average debt was $19,202. Of that sum, $17,022 came through federal loan programs.

The agency focused on 12 large, medium, and mid-sized states, but did not compile enough data from the other 38 states to create reliable statewide averages.

The figures show:

.. New York had the highest average loan amount, $20,838. Georgia and Minnesota followed. Of the dozen states studied, those with the smallest loan average were Nebraska, Delaware and California.

.. In Oregon and Minnesota, three of every four undergraduates got loans. Officials in both states said that was due to budget cuts.

State dollars "are covering less and less of the cost of higher education, and we've had several years of double-digit tuition increases," said Melinda Voss, spokeswoman for the Minnesota state college and university system.

Jacqueline King, an analyst at the American Council on Education, said she was surprised by the figures for Georgia, which has a college scholarship program designed to make higher education more affordable.

King said she believed the government's figures for federal student loan amounts are statistically reliable because they are based purely on government records, while the total debt amount is based on students' understanding of their future obligations.

The overall amount of student loan debt soared in the mid-1990s but has been relatively flat in recent years. King said she expects it to rise again after Congress voted to increase the limits on student borrowing from the federal government.

According to the College Board, private lending for student loans has exploded in the last decade, jumping from $1.3 billion in 1993-1994 to $10.6 billion in 2003-2004. Government lending for that year was $56.8 billion.

The biggest change, though, may be in the cost to take out government loans.

A general trend of historically low interest rates is ending, and the new government loans will have a fixed rate of 6.8 percent. If rates keep rising, students with the old variable rate loans could end up paying as much as 8.25 percent.

Figures for the 12 states:

.. California: 56.4 percent of undergraduates taking out student loans, $17,266 average total loans, $15,259 average federal loans.

.. Connecticut: 62.4 percent, $17,990 average total loans, $17,143 federal loans.

.. Delaware: 56.1 percent $16,473 total, $12,946 federal.

.. Georgia: 65.4 percent, $20,767 total, $18,505 federal.

.. Illinois: 63.2 percent, $18,788 total, $16,594 federal.

.. Indiana: 61.1 percent. $19,112 total, $17,566 federal.

.. Minnesota: 76.3 percent, $20,312 total, $16,406 federal.

.. Nebraska: 71.8 percent, $16,200 total, $15,373 federal.

.. New York: 67.2 percent, $20,838 total, $17,603 federal.

.. Oregon: 76.5 percent, $17,772 total, $16,641 federal.

.. Tennessee: 70.9 percent, $19,949 total. $17,852 federal.

.. Texas: 64 per cent, $18,508 total, $16,624 federal.

All states: 65.6 percent, $19,202 total, $17,202 federal.

*** OREGON STUDENT ASSOCIATION DECIDES 2007 LEGISLATIVE AGENDA ***
--- College & university students take first step in statewide mobilization ---


(Eugene, OR) Representing over 100,000 students, the Oregon Student Association (OSA) Student Board and affiliate Oregon Students of Color Coalition (OSCC) Student Board have decided upon their 2007 Legislative Agenda, taking the first major step towards winning victories for Oregons college and university students. From now until the 2007 Oregon state legislature adjourns next year, students will be mobilizing statewide around their chosen issues.

The decision comes at the end of an eight-month process initiated last August when students began brainstorming and thinking critically about the issues that impact students ability to access and afford a quality postsecondary education. Upon returning to campus in the fall, students surveyed campuses across the state as to what issues were most important to Oregon students. Students then underwent a scrupulous process of research, dialogue, and debate to develop a comprehensive package of legislative issues that will increase access to a quality postsecondary education for Oregon students.

Students developed their 2007 Legislative Agenda in the context of victories won for students in the 2005 legislative session as well as the impending funding crisis our campuses currently face. The Oregon University System is looking at an approximately $18 to $19 million shortfall for the 2006-07 school year. Community colleges are also facing budget crises; Lane Community College recently approved over $6 million in cuts.

Even as our tuition has skyrocketed, students are seeing fewer tenured faculty and a reduction in support services on our campusessimply put, we are paying more and getting less, said incoming OSA Board Chair and Associated Students of Portland State University President Courtney Morse. Students are looking to ban together with interested parties to fix the funding problem for our postsecondary education institutions. At the same time, we want the legislature to acknowledge that college graduates benefit our state by reinvesting in students.

Students are also asking that legislators continue investment in the Oregon Opportunity Grant, Oregons only need-based aid program, so as to provide grant aid to all qualifying full and part-time students. Grant aid is essential to getting low-income students to college and to their success in graduating. Last year all qualifying students were able to receive the Grant for the first time since the millenniumwe cannot take a step backwards from this historical victory, said Marilen Delgado, Lane Community College student active with OSA.

OSA and OSCC are also looking to creative solutions to access to postsecondary education with their support of ASPIRE (Access to Student assistance Programs In Reach of Everyone), a volunteer mentoring program that seeks to give all Oregon high school students the tools to access a postsecondary education. The program focuses on students underrepresented on Oregons campuses such as students of color, low-income students, and first generation students. Students are asking the legislature to invest in this program that will bring Oregon closer to its goal of graduating more Oregonians from college.

Students offer on-the-ground knowledge and innovative thinking to the legislature, said OSCC Board Member Oscar Guerra. By bringing our new support of this program to the Capitol, students will help bring to our campuses those students we arent seeing enough of.

OSCC will also be increasing access to postsecondary education for underrepresented students by organizing around tuition equity legislation that would extend in-state tuition to undocumented students that graduated from Oregon high schools and are on the path to citizenship.

Tuition equity is a win-win situation, said Guerra. It benefits hardworking and capable students as well as all Oregonians.

Students look forward to heading into next school year armed with their new Agenda:
Funding & Tuition: Support Essential Budget Level (the funding necessary for the systems to continue to deliver their current levels of service) for Oregons universities, community colleges, and Oregon Health & Science University. Do not increase tuition any more than increases in the median family income.
Need-based Aid: Invest in the Oregon Opportunity Grant to continue to offer aid to all eligible full and part-time students.
ASPIRE: Fund expansion of ASPIRE into new high schools.
Tuition Equity: Pass tuition equity legislation.

Our innovative package will give students the mentoring and funds necessary to access college, while also committing to ensuring that our schools have the necessary funding to provide us with a quality education, said Morse. Students stand poised to win concrete victories for Oregon students and systems of postsecondary education this legislative session.

But students arent waiting until the fall; this summer campuses across Oregon will be sending students to meet with legislators in their districts.

Sign up at your student government office to be a part of OSAs summer legislative strike teams, encouraged Delgado. Take a day from your vacation to tell your elected officials your story so that they will come to Salem knowing the issues Oregons university and college students face.

The spring 2006 Student Vote voter registration drive is off and running. Over the next three weeks, students on OSA campuses will register over 5,000 students to vote for this May's primary election.

To register to vote, visit your campus student government offices. For questions, contact Oregon's Elections Office at 1-866-ORE-VOTE or visit OregonVotes.org. You may also contact your county elections office for questions related to past registration, whether or not you're currently registered, or to find out what's on the next ballot.

For more information on how you can get involved with the Student Vote Coalition, the Oregon Student Association, or your student government, contact the OSA office at 503-286-0477.