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THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW - April 1, 2010
Obama Signs Sweeping Student Loan Reform Bill Into Law
by: Grace Huang
truthout|Report
President Obama signed legislation on Tuesday that will
revamp the existing federal student loan system, allowing
the government to directly provide loans to college
students in the US.
The bill will end a $60 billion program that gave federal
money to private banks to provide loans for students,
effectively cutting out their role as a middleman. Accord-
ing to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, direct
lending by the government will save taxpayers about $61
billion over the next ten years.
Making an appearance at a Virginia Community College where
Vice President Biden's wife teaches, President Obama
cemented a final set of small tweaks to the health care
reform bill that was signed into law last week. However,
he also used the opportunity to emphasize the education
part of the bill, which he called "overlooked."
"In the 21st century, when the success of every American
hinges more than ever on the quality of their education,
and when America's success as a nation rests more than ever
on an educated workforce that is second to none, we can't
afford to waste billions of dollars on giveaways to banks,"
he said. Of the money saved by the law, $36 billion will go
toward Pell grants given to undergraduate students in need
of financial aid. The law will increase the grants along
with inflation during the next few years from $5,550 to
$5,975, according to the White House. Additionally, it
will provide 820,000 more grants by 2020.
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The Obama administration said that if the bill had not
passed, the government would have had to reduce Pell grants
to about $2,150 and reduce the number of covered students
by 500,000. Pell once covered more than three-fourths of
the cost of attending college, but now it only covers about
one-third due to skyrocketing costs.
The law will also make it easier for students to pay off
loans. In the US, the average student graduates with over
$23,000 in debt. Currently, caps prevent college graduates
from having to pay more than 15 percent of their income on
loans, but in 2014 the cap will be lowered to 10 percent.
Funding will also go toward education initiatives for
community colleges, historically black colleges and
minority-serving institutions, which had been hit
especially hard by the economic downturn.
President Obama called the effort to pass the student loan
reform bill a battle against the banks and institutions who
"hired a army of lobbyists to protect the status quo." He
singled out Sallie Mae, the biggest American student lender
which spent more than $3 million on lobbying in just the
last year.
In the debates leading up to the law's passage, industry
officials against it argued that many jobs would be lost.
Fannie Mae has said it may have to let go one-third of its
8,500 workers nationwide.
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Republicans criticized the legislation, with many calling
it an unwanted government takeover of the program. Sen.
Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee), whose state is home to
several large student lenders, said in a statement Tuesday
that this "Washington takeover" would overcharge students
to help pay for the new health care law, lose 31,000
private sector jobs and provide inadequate service for
students.
"The Obama Administration's motto is turning out to be:
'If we can find it in the Yellow Pages, the government
ought to try to do it,'" he said.
In an interview, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said that
eliminating the private banks' role as a middleman merely
ended a "sweet deal" for the banks, and that since 100
percent of tasks such as loan servicing would still be the
private sector's responsibility there would still be a
"huge opportunity" for jobs.
"Good actors will get more business, bad actors will lose
business," he said.
In his closing comments at Tuesday's signing, President
Obama highlighted how the US also needs to help more
students enter college and successfully earn their degree
education-wise. However, he concluded, what has been
accomplished over the past year represents "enormous
progress."
"For a long time, our student loan system has worked for
banks and financial institutions. Today, we're finally
making our student loan system work for students and our
families," he said.
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