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9/7/2007
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Today the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act by votes of 79 to 12 and 292 to 97 respectively. The bill now goes to the president who has said he will sign the legislation into law. | |
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9/26/2006
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According to a new report released late Friday by the Inspector General (IG) of the Department of Education, private lender Nelnet Inc. abused a student loan loophole to generate $1.2 billion in illegitimate government payments. Through the “9.5% loophole” the company has already been paid $278 million in excess subsidies and stands to receive $882 more unless the Department steps in. The IG report calls on the Department to stop the payments and repay the outstanding $278 million. | |
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8/9/2006
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"A new copy of the Commission on the Future of Higher Education's report circulating today removes a proposal to slash the student loan programs and send millions of borrowers to the private loan market. We applaud the Commission for taking swift action to remove this outrageous provision. Private loans are far more expensive and offer less protection than federal student loans. We hope the Commission's final report will look for savings in the subsidies of large private lenders and not the pockets of students." | |
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7/18/2007
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The Nelson-Burr Amendment cuts $4.2 billion from need-based aid to low-income students over the next five years and gives the bulk of it to for-profit student lenders. | |
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7/11/2007
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The US House of Representatives today passed the "College Cost Reduction Act of 2007" (HR 2669) by a vote of 273-149. The bill will substantially increase the purchasing power of the Pell Grant, the nation's premiere need based grant program which benefits millions of low income students, increasing the maximum grant amount by $100 for five years beginning in 2008-9. It will make student loan debt more affordable by cutting the interest rate on student loans in half, to 3.4 percent, by 2012, and by capping loan repayment amounts to a reasonable percentage of a graduate's income. | |
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6/20/2007
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Today the Senate HELP Committee will take up legislation to reauthorize the Higher Education Act of 1965 and reform the student aid programs. The two bills to be considered will increase funding for need-based grant aid and help millions of student borrowers manageably repay their college loans. | |
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6/12/2007
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A national coalition of organizations including the United States Student Association, U.S. PIRG, the AFL-CIO and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities today sent a letter to all members of Congress urging them to address critical priorities in American higher education. The letter focused on four key points: | |
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6/12/2007
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Dear Member of Congress,
On behalf of hundreds of thousands of students we urge you to support the 2008 Budget Resolution, S. Con. Res. 21. This budget provides a meaningful increase in funding for education programs and paves the way for larger pro-student reform. | |
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4/30/2007
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U.S. PIRG is the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups--a national network of state based non-partisan, non-profit public interest advocacy organizations based inn 30 states. We work with students on more than 100 college campuses across the country. For more than a decade, our Higher Education Project has represented hundreds of thousands of college student members at the federal level by working to increase access to an affordable college education. On behalf of our members I want to thank you for convening this hearing and offering us the opportunity to testify. | |
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2/5/2007
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The FY08 budget calls for a significant increase in the maximum Pell Grant award to $4,600 but also calls for deep cuts to critical student aid programs including the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG), the Perkins Loan Program and the LEAP Program. While this budget acknowledges the importance of increasing the Pell Grant award, unfortunately it largely represents a rearrangement of federal spending rather than a new commitment to making college accessible for low income students. We’re happy to see that the budget also makes cuts to the excessive subsidies to banks. | |
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2/19/2007
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Speaker Nancy Pelosi will join U.S. Representatives Mitchell, Grijalva and Pastor on February 19, 2007 at 2 p.m. at ASU-Tempe in the Memorial Union – Arizona Ballroom to talk about college affordability to Arizona students and concerned Arizonans. The event will be the first domestic trip by Speaker Pelosi since being elected to the post in early January. | |
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1/5/2007
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Cutting student loan interest rates in half will save the average working- and middle class borrower $4,420 over the life of their loans, according to a new report by U.S. PIRG’s Higher Education Project. | |
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1/31/2007
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The House voted 286 to 140 today to increase the maximum Pell Grant award by $260 to $4,310. The vote, to pass the Fiscal Year 2007 budget marks the first increase in the maximum grant award since 2002. | |
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1/17/2007
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This afternoon, by a vote of 356-71 the U.S. House passed legislation to lower the interest rates on student loans over the next five years. | |