Congresswoman Hirono Helps Cut College Costs
Democrats Fulfill Promise to Make College More Affordable
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Congresswoman Mazie K. Hirono today joined a majority in the House of Representatives in support of legislation that would make college more affordable. A member of the House Education and Labor Committee and the Subcommittee on Higher Education, Congresswoman Hirono was selected to participate in negotiations that reconciled differences between House and Senate versions of the bill. The resulting legislation, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (H.R. 2669), won approval by both the House and Senate today.
The House passed the bill by a vote of 292 to 97, and the Senate by a 79-12 tally. The bill now goes to President Bush, who is expected to sign it into law.
Congress has now made the single largest investment in college financial assistance since the 1944 GI Bill at no new cost to U.S. taxpayers.
While family income has failed to increase, the cost of living and the cost of a college education have continued to rise, placing added pressure on aspiring college students and their families, and preventing some students from attending college. The College Cost Reduction and Access Act increases college financial aid by more than $20 billion over the next five years and cuts interest rates on subsidized student loans in half over the next four years. The bill pays for itself by reducing excessive federal subsidies paid to lenders in the college loan industry by $20.9 billion. It also includes $750 million in federal budget deficit reduction.
"We are helping families across Hawaii send their children to college and making sure when students graduate that they are not overburdened with debt," said Congresswoman Hirono.
Under the legislation, the maximum value of the Pell Grant scholarship would increase by $1,090 over the next five years, reaching $5,400 by 2012. To reduce the cost of loans for millions of student borrowers, the legislation would cut interest rates in half on need-based student loans, from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent over the next four years.
For students and families in Hawai‘i, this amounts to a total increase in loan and Pell Grant aid of $62 million over 5 years. By cutting the cost of students loans, this legislation would save the typical student borrower in Hawai‘i $4,580 over the life of the loan.
In addition, the legislation would prevent students from facing unmanageable levels of federal student debt by guaranteeing that borrowers will never have to spend more than 15 percent of their yearly discretionary income on loan repayments and by allowing borrowers in economic hardship to have their loans forgiven after 25 years.
The College Cost Reduction and Access Act also contains funding for schools like those in Hawai‘i that serve a diverse population.
Congresswoman Hirono said, "I am particularly proud of the investment this bill makes in colleges and universities serving minorities, including $30 million for institutions serving Native Hawaiians and Alaska Natives and $10 million for institutions serving Asian and Pacific Islander communities that historically have had low educational attainment."
The legislation also includes a number of other provisions that would ease the financial burden imposed on students and families by the cost of college:
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Strategies to help colleges contain costs and make online information on college costs for students and parents more user friendly. Loan forgiveness after 10 years of public service and loan repayment for college graduates that go into vital public service jobs, including early education, which was based partially on Congresswoman Hirono’s Early Educator Loan Forgiveness Act of 2007; and Tuition assistance for excellent undergraduate students who agree to teach in the nation’s public schools;President Franklin Roosevelt signed the GI Bill into law in 1944. The original law enabled 7.8 million veterans of World War II to participate in education or job training programs.
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