President Barack Obama on Tuesday, March 10, signed a “Student Aid Bill of Rights” to help students deal with continually rising college loans.
“Higher education has never been more important, but it’s also never been more expensive,” Obama said.
Under the memorandum, the President is directing federal agencies, including the Department of Education, to work across the federal government to do more in assisting borrowers so they can afford their monthly loan payments.
“Every borrower has the right to an affordable repayment plan,” Obama said. “Every borrower has the right to quality customer service, reliable information, and fair treatment, even if they struggle to repay their loans.”
Obama addressed nearly 10,000 students at Georgia Tech in Atlanta when he made his announcement, saying America needs to ensure students are not burdened with thousands of dollars in debt after graduating from college.
“We’re going to make sure that loan servicers can find better ways to help borrowers keep up with monthly payments that they can afford,” he said.
According to the White House, the average student that borrows money to pay for college leaves with about $28,000 in student loan debt. It also stated that new requirements for private and federally guaranteed student loans may be appropriate to provide the more than 40 million Americans with student loans additional basic rights and protections.
Obama also encouraged members of Congress to invest more funds in making college more affordable.
“We’re going to be reaching out to them, trying to get them to see that this is a good investment,” he said.
Aides to House Speaker John Boehner lauded Obama for focusing on the increasing costs of college, but criticized the President for initially proposing a plan to tax 529 college savings plans, and then backing off.
“All that would do is push more families into the borrowing system,” Boehner said in a statement emailed to reporters. “And while ‘enhancing’ the borrowing experience is all well and good, our goal should be helping parents and students avoid it as best they can.”
By Oct. 1, the President has requested that the Treasury and Education departments, along with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, report on whether bankruptcy laws or other regulations should be altered for student loans.
Under the memorandum, the president has also directed federal agencies to work on a state-of-the-art complaint system to ensure the provision of quality accountability and service for the Department of Education, its contractors and colleges. This would allow students to easily file complaints regarding federal financial aid process.
Additionally, new steps to analyze student debt trends and suggest legislative and regulatory changes are to be taken.
(With reports from Reuters, RT, The New York Times and USA Today)
(www.asianjournal.com)
(San Francisco March 13-19, 2015 Sec. A pg.1)
