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Landmark Educational Bill Passes House

This week an important bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives, which will help ease the impact of the recession on college students and their families. This bill will also save $87 billion in taxpayers money over a decade by transitioning to the less expensive Direct Loan program.

With the economic crisis more students are relying on loans to cover the costs of going to school and the Wall Street Journal reported that the there has been a 25% increase in loans for the 2008-2009 academic year. The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act will provide $40 billion in additional grant aid, will increase investment in community colleges, and will make loans more affordable.

This bill is vitally needed in a time when the number of students graduating with $25,000 in student loans has tripled in the last decade. This has left many students with a decision of whether to enroll or even stay in college, which has unfortunately resulted in drastic cuts in public college budgets. This in turn has forced universities to increase tuition to make up for the lack of funding.

Making this investment is vitally important to our future, which will ensure that we help our next generation of leaders to not only graduate, but to stay in school as well. The benefit of having a four-year college diploma boosts the amount of earnings more than 60 percent compared to a worker with only a high school diploma. As your Congressman, I will work for initiatives like this to ensure we provide our children with quality and affordable education.

To read more about the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act click here.