From my Senator on the Student Debt letter that I sent him. It took him just one day to reply - MAN OH MAN AM I GOING TO MISS HIM!!: Dear Ms. Dieter: Thank you for contacting me about higher education. I believe all Americans should have access to quality, affordable post-secondary education. The federal government has historically been and continues to be an effective partner in helping students and families face the growing challenge of financing a college education. Attaining a college degree is important because, on average, a worker with a bachelor’s degree will earn 70 percent more annually than a worker with only a high school diploma. In spite of the importance of a college education, it has become increasingly difficult for students and families to afford a college education. Due to declining state support, students have been forced to borrow more and more for their college education. A recent study showed that students graduating from colleges in Michigan are burdened with an average debt of more than $27,000. I voted in favor of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, which represented the single largest federal investment in higher education since the GI Bill and includes an additional $20 billion in college aid. I also supported the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2007, which increased the maximum Pell Grant award to $5,550 per year, limited monthly student loan payments, and provided the first income-contingent repayment program to allow borrowers to repay the loans without a crushing financial burden. This law also reduced interest rates on subsidized loans from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent for undergraduate borrowing, and provided forgiveness of federal student loan balances after 25 years of repayments, or forgiveness after only 10 years for graduates working in the public sector. Without Congressional action, interest rates on federally-subsidized Stafford loans are set to double on July 1st, 2013, increasing from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. On May 14, 2013, Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) introduced the Student Loan Affordability Act (S.953). I am a cosponsor of this legislation, which seeks to avert the increase in student loan interest rates and extend the subsidized federal student loan rates for two years. To pay for preventing this increase from happening, this legislation is offset by closing three tax loopholes that allow businesses to avoid paying U.S. taxes. On June 6, 2013, I voted in favor of a procedural effort to move forward with S.953. Unfortunately, we were unable to garner the 60 votes necessary to proceed to the consideration of this legislation. Hundreds of thousands of students in Michigan depend on federal student loans to help afford college, and I hope Congress can still come to an agreement to avoid an increase in student loan interest rates. Additionally, I supported the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which was included in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (P.L.111-152). Among other things, this law converts all new federal student lending to the Direct Loan program. Since July 2010, all new federal student loans have been required to originate through the Direct Loan program, where the federal government lends directly to students, instead of through federally-guaranteed student loans issued by private companies. The savings resulting from this change allowed for further enhancement of the income-contingent loan repayment program established in 2007. These changes allow borrowers to pay 10% of their income toward loan repayment, instead of the 15% level that was set previously. In addition, this law reduced the amount of time before loan forgiveness is granted, requiring borrowers to repay student loans for only 20 years before forgiveness, instead of 25 years as previously required. Thank you again for sharing your views with me. Sincerely, Carl Levin levin.senate.gov
Posted on: Sat, 15 Jun 2013 00:04:19 +0000
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