Headlines
On campus, new deals with banks
States want to add toll roads to fund repairs
Romney’s plan seems certain to hasten privatization of public schools – opinion
MI: Roger Penske urges privatizing Detroit’s lighting, transportation systems
OH: Ohio State action expected on parking privatization bids
NC: N.C. Democrats, Republicans oppose I-95 toll project
CA: Laguna residents sue toll road agency, Caltrans, cities for flood damage
On campus, new deals with banks
College campuses have long been attractive hunting grounds for financial institutions looking for new customers. In recent years, however, their efforts to woo students have gotten banks and other financial institutions in trouble with regulators. They are now effectively prohibited from providing gifts to students who sign up for credit cards. And the colleges themselves can no longer be paid by the lenders to steer students to student loans. But many colleges, struggling to offset cuts in state funds and under pressure to keep tuition down, are finding new ways to strike deals with financial institutions, by turning student IDs into debit cards and allowing lenders to take over disbursement of financial aid. Consumer advocates worry that financial firms are again profiting from unsuspecting students, by charging them fees and even gaining access to their financial aid funds. Now a prominent consumer group has tried to document the extent of the practice. In a report released on Wednesday, the group, the United States Public Interest Research Group Education Fund, found that nearly 900 colleges and universities have card partnerships with financial institutions; in some instances, the colleges receive hefty payments from banks for the exclusive access to students; in other instances, the schools save money by outsourcing financial functions to banks or other vendors. New York Times
States want to add toll roads to fund repairs
High fuel prices may not be the only factor adding to the cost of driving — you could soon be paying tolls to use public highways. In the past, drivers have paid at the pump for infrastructure improvements, since fuel taxes have traditionally funded road and bridge construction and repairs. But with fuel tax revenues dropping and raising taxes currently a political hot potato in Congress, some states are considering adding tolls to highways in order to make up for transportation-infrastructure repair shortfalls. Toll-accessed turnpikes have existed in 15 states, mostly in the Northeast and Midwest, since before the advent of the Interstate system in 1956. And 2,900 miles of the 47,000-mile Interstate system have “grandfathered” authorization to collect tolls. But restrictions currently preclude other states from enacting tolls on federally funded highways except in certain circumstances. Now, however, states are increasingly asking Congress to loosen the rules on their ability to charge tolls. While tolls are an imperfect solution for several reasons — including an increase in bottlenecks and potential mismanagement by private toll collectors — for many states it’s the best and perhaps the only option to pay for keeping aging transportation infrastructure in shape. MSN Auto
Romney’s plan seems certain to hasten privatization of public schools – opinion
Romney is advancing a pro-choice, pro-voucher, pro-states-rights education program that seems certain to hasten the privatization of the public education system. In a Romney-run education world, the parents of poor and special-education students would choose a school – public or private, based on standardized test scores and other data – and then a specific amount of public money would follow the child to the school. Salt Lake Tribune
MI: Roger Penske urges privatizing Detroit’s lighting, transportation systems
Business and racing powerhouse Roger Penske didn’t profess to have all the answers of how to revitalize Detroit, but this afternoon he certainly shared some strong opinions on what needs to be fixed. Penske, speaking at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference, said the city’s lighting and transportation systems need to be privatized and a regional rail line need to become a reality. Detroit Free Press
OH: Ohio State action expected on parking privatization bids
Bids for the proposed privatization of the university’s parking assets were due to the Office of Business Wednesday. The plan, if approved by President E. Gordon Gee, provost Joseph Alutto and chief financial officer Geoff Chatas, would turn over operations of all permit sales, parking lots and parking garages to an outside vendor for up to a 50-year period…Jordyn Hornyak, a third-year in international business, said she drives and parks on campus, and is concerned about the parking rates rising, not only for students, but for faculty. “I’ve heard many concerns about the price range in the future,” Hornyak said. Several cities such as Chicago, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis have moved toward parking privatization, but no public universities have made the switch. Enrico Bonello, an OSU professor in plant pathology and another member of faculty council, said the administration is moving forward with this deal without regard to the impact on people. “They (administration) are acting along those lines that they are only interested in cash flow. With disregard with what happens or what that means to actual people. And I just feel like they talk down to us like we don’t understand what’s going on,” Bonello said. “But we do and we know that this is not a smart move for the university.” OSU
NC: N.C. Democrats, Republicans oppose I-95 toll project
Legislators on both sides of the aisle, and both sides of Interstate 95, are throwing roadblocks in front of a thoroughly unpopular proposal from the state Department of Transportation to finance a $4.4 billion widening project by collecting tolls from I-95 drivers. State House and Senate members who represent I-95 counties have introduced bills to require an economic study on how the electronic tolling might hurt residents and businesses in Eastern North Carolina, and a traffic study on how U.S. 301 and other alternate routes might be overburdened by cars and trucks trying to dodge the tolls. Winston-Salem Journal
CA: Laguna residents sue toll road agency, Caltrans, cities for flood damage
Residents and businesses in a Laguna Canyon neighborhood are placing blame on construction of the 73 toll road and other upstream development for the December 2010 floods that devastated their properties and threatened lives. Orange County Register