Thanks for your article about spring break consumer traps in Monday’s Daily. It exposed a potential wallet-buster for many students. There is more information about these trips and their tricks, but Iowa Student Public Interest Research Group works to research and report on such consumer rip-offs. Last spring, the student PIRG chapters across the country released a report titled Spring Broke: How to Avoid a Spring Break Rip-off.

The main findings of the report showed that every single advertisement examined contained hidden, confusing and misleading fees. In addition, hidden fees for each trip, usually mentioned only in very fine print, totaled an average of $367. The result: Prices for a spring break trip were on average up to 62 percent higher than the prices advertised. The full text of the report may be viewed at www.calpirgstudents.org/cacampus.asp?id2=5121.

These kinds of reports are important for students, and Iowa PIRG works on this consumer issue, higher education, the environment and a whole host of issues. Tonight at 7 p.m., the GSB will decide if Iowa PIRG should be funded on campus. The GSB needs to fund Iowa PIRG’s great work — students need advocates and organizers to help make this campus and our state a better place.

Mansoor Khadir

Senior

Computer Science