Send Bush Your Student Loan Bill

The Campaign for America's Future and MoveOn have organized a new site called Send Bush Your Student Loan Bill. The site (which is supported by ClickBack America, PunkVoter, United States Student Association and ACORN) has you send an email to the President as an invoice for the extra $5,500 that it will cost per student on their student loans under the rules of HR. 4283. They have additional links to facts on the growing cost of higher education and the pitfalls of the College Access and Opportunity Act. Definitely go check it out!

HR 4283 Comments from George Miller

Ranking Democrat in the Committee on Education & The Workforce, George Miller, has released his statement on the Republican sponsored College Access and Opportunity Act (H.R. 4283).

His comments include:

It is imperative that we return to the original premise of the Higher Education Act of 1965—that no college-qualified student should be denied a college education because he or she is lacks the financial resources.

Unfortunately, while the bill before us today includes some good provisions – such as reducing student origination fees and reducing some of the excessive subsidies to banks – overall it actually makes college more expensive and reduces college opportunities.

...

Despite the fact that an estimated 40 percent of all borrowers graduate with unmanageable debt levels, the Republican bill denies students’ ability to lock in a low fixed interest rate on their student loans through consolidation. Consolidating at a low fixed rate has helped millions of low and middle-income students manage their debt and make ends meet.

According to an analysis by the Congressional Research Service, eliminating this benefit will force the typical student borrower to pay $5,500 more for his or her student loans.

Without having gone through the entire 203 pg bill (!!) yet... it doesn't appear that this new legislation will fix the current one-time consolidation rule but in fact eliminate the option of consolidation for future students.

Higher Ed. Committee to Discuss HR 4283

Tomorrow (May 12) 10:30 AM EDT, the full Committee on Education and the Workforce will be holding a hearing on H.R. 4283 "College Access & Opportunity Act". A full WEBCAST of the hearing should be available then.

The announced speakers are:
Mr. Jim Boyle
President of College Parents of America - Washington, D.C.

Dr. Dallas Martin
President of National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators - Washington, D.C.

Dr. Charles Reed
Chancellor of California State University System- Long Beach, California

Mr. Michael Grayer
Recent Graduate of Virginia College - Jackson, Mississippi

I wish we could tell you what HR. 4283 is, but the text of the bill has not yet been received by Thomas. We can guess that the one-time consolidation rule might be at play here based upon the appearance of a former student. We'll let you know when we have more information.