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.
The Higher Education Access Act, one of the two bills in
consideration, will provide billions of dollars a year in additional need-based
grant aid funding. The Promise Grant is
designed as a supplement to Pell Grant, the federal government’s most
successful program to ensure access to college.
“Every year more than a hundred thousand qualified high school
graduates don’t continue onto college due largely to a lack of available
financial aid,” said Rebecca Thompson, Legislative Director of the United
States Student Association. “By
increasing need-based grant aid, the Higher Education Access Act will open the
doors of higher education to low-income students across the country.”
The bill establishes an income based repayment
plan for all
students similar to legislation passed last week by the House Education
and
Labor Committee. Borrowers would have
part of their income protected from being used to repay loans
equivalent to
150 percent of the poverty level, or about $15,000. Above that
threshold students would be expected to devote up to 15 percent of
their additional, or “discretionary, income to loan repayment. The
Income-Based Repayment provision ensures
that students who take out reasonable federal student loan debt are
able to
pursue their career and life goals.
“Today’s
legislation does more than simply protect students from excessively high loan
payments,” explained Luke Swarthout, U.S. PIRG Higher Education Advocate, “it
fundamentally changes how we treat students who borrow for college. Rather than punishing them for helping to
shoulder the burden of paying for their education, this bill will allow
students to repay their loans without debt dictating their life choices.”
The legislation provides loan forgiveness for public service
employees and reforms the financial aid process for millions of students.
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The
State PIRGs are non-profit, non-partisan public interest advocacy groups. The
Higher Education Project was established in 1994 to secure more aid for
students, with a focus on additional grants, reduced debt, and better service
to students in the federal financial aid system.
The
United States
Student Association (USSA) is the country’s oldest and largest national student
organization, representing over a million students nationwide. Founded in 1947,
USSA is the recognized voice for students on Capitol Hill, in the White House
and the Department of Education.
