Lawmakers to Vote on Student Aid Bill
AID BRIEF
New London Day
Jeanne Amy
Boston University Washington News Service
9/15/09
WASHINGTON – What could be the largest federal investment in student aid in history is scheduled to be voted on by the House of Representatives this week.
The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act outlines a plan to invest $87 billion in education, from kindergarten to college loans.
“This is a comprehensive agenda, this is a cradle-to-career agenda,” Arne Duncan, secretary of education, said at a press conference Tuesday.
A majority of the federal money will come from the elimination of the Federal Family Education Loan Program, the government-subsidized loan program that supported private lenders. The legislation will divert funds from that program to the government-funded Federal Direct Loan Program.
This shift will “make college more affordable,” said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.
“It’s very clear that people all over America, that people in all different age groups, in all different occupations, are deciding that their future in terms of employment is with education,” Miller said.
Last December, the University of Connecticut announced it would guarantee loans only from the Federal Direct Loan Program instead of providing its students with loans from federally approved private lenders.
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, who serves on the Education and Labor Committee, said he believes the House will pass the legislation.
The bill would provide $40 billion over the next 10 years to increase the annual amounts of Pell Grant scholarships. It will also make changes to the Perkins Loan program and expand the program to more college campuses. Interest rates on subsidized federal loans would remain low, rather than increasing as they are set to in 2012.
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