January 18, 2007

Pryce Votes to Cut Student Loan Rates

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congresswoman Deborah Pryce issued the following statement pursuant to her vote yesterday in favor of H.R. 5, the College Student Relief Act of 2007, a bill to reduce interest rates for student borrowers:  

“The bill’s importance is twofold:  it reduces the financial strain upon future college graduates who are becoming increasingly saddled with emasculating loan debt.  But equally important, it makes the prospects of attending college more feasible for low income students who might otherwise forgo it when faced insurmountable financial hurdles.  

“It is also important to note that this vote is built upon Republicans’ unprecedented success in funding our nation’s student aid programs over the past decade.  We tripled funding for student loans, grants and work-study programs; we invested a record $13 billion in Pell Grants – a 66% increase over ten years ago; we created a $4 billion grant program for high-achieving math and science Pell students in their first two years of college; and we slashed loan fees from 4% to 1%, thereby allowing students to keep more of what they borrow.

“Regardless, higher education faces an array of challenges left unaddressed by today’s short-term fix.  While federal funding for student aid programs grew at 300% over the past 10 years, tuition has risen 86% for public colleges and 52% for private colleges over the past five years.  While we must continue to search for ways to make higher education more accessible to qualified students who wish to attend, at some point, our nation must have a rational debate over the causes of these dramatic increased costs, and consider long term solutions from every level of government to rectify them.”