II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3281 

To expand student loan forgiveness, to provide loan repayment assistance, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 29, 2010 

Mr. SPECTER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To expand student loan forgiveness, to provide loan 

repayment assistance, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Student Loan Forgiveness and Repayment Assistance 

6 Act of 2010’’. 

7 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 

8 this Act is the following: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Findings. 

TITLE I—INCOME-BASED REPAYMENT PLAN 


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Sec. 101. Income-based repayment plan. 

TITLE II—PUBLIC SERVICE LOAN FORGIVENESS PROGRAM 

Sec. 201. Public service loan forgiveness program. 

TITLE III—LOWERING OF INTEREST RATES FOR HEALTH 

PROFESSIONS 

Sec. 301. Lowering of interest rates for health professions. 

TITLE IV—ENHANCING OPPORTUNITIES FOR MINORITIES 

Sec. 401. Enhancing opportunities for minorities. 

TITLE V—ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR THE EVALUATION AND 

PROMOTION OF ACCESSIBILITY AND AFFORDABILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION 

Sec. 501. Assistant Secretary for the evaluation and promotion of accessibility 

and affordability in higher education. 

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that, according to information com3 piled by Campus Progress— 

4 (1) total Federal student debt in the United 

5 States, as of 2008, is more than $617,000,000,000, 

6 according to the Department of Education; 

7 (2) in 2008, the Advisory Committee on Stu8 dent Financial Assistance estimated that between 

9 1,700,000 to 3,200,0000 baccalaureate degrees will 

10 be lost this decade among academically qualified stu11 dents because of financial barriers; 

12 (3) the average student today graduates college 

13 with student debt 25 percent higher than that of col14 lege graduates a decade ago, and enters the job mar15 ket where the average job pays college graduates less 

16 than the job would have in 2000; 


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1 (4) the average college senior graduated with 

2 $4,100 in credit card debt in 2008, according to a 

3 study by Sallie Mae, Inc., and $23,200 in student 

4 loans, according to the Institute for College Access 

5 and Success; 

6 (5) according to the Institute for College Access 

7 and Success, almost 7 in 10 college graduates are 

8 burdened with educational debt; 

9 (6) according to a 2006 report by the United 

10 States Public Interest Research Group, student debt 

11 is outpacing the starting salaries of jobs in teaching 

12 and social work, making it virtually impossible for 

13 many debt-laden college graduates to pursue careers 

14 in fields where they are desperately needed; 

(7) according to the same report, nearly 1 15 ⁄4 of 

16 all graduates from public colleges, and almost 4 in 

17 10 graduates from private colleges, have levels of 

18 student debt that would become unmanageable on 

19 the average salary of a starting teacher; 

20 (8) a 2002 report by the Nellie Mae Corpora21 tion found that students delay major life decisions as 

22 a result of increased student debt—38 percent of 

23 college graduates delay buying their first house be24 cause of debt, 14 percent delay marriage, and 21 

25 percent delay having children; 


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1 (9) according to a 2006 report by the Edu2 cation Trust, the highest achieving low-income high 

3 school graduates go to college at nearly the same 

4 rate as the lowest achieving students from wealthy 

5 families; and 

6 (10) more than 60 percent of African-Amer7 ican, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian students 

8 face a gap between their expected family contribu9 tion, grants, and nonprivate loans and the cost of 

10 their education, according to the 2007–2008 Na11 tional Postsecondary Student Aid Study. 

12 TITLE I—INCOME-BASED 

13 REPAYMENT PLAN 

14 SEC. 101. INCOME-BASED REPAYMENT PLAN. 

15 Section 493C(e) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

16 (20 U.S.C. 1098e(e)) is amended— 

17 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘10 percent’’ 

18 and inserting ‘‘7 percent’’; and 

19 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘20 years’’ 

20 and inserting ‘‘15 years’’. 

21 TITLE II—PUBLIC SERVICE 

22 LOAN FORGIVENESS PROGRAM 

23 SEC. 201. PUBLIC SERVICE LOAN FORGIVENESS PROGRAM. 

24 Section 455(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

25 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(m)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

2 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

3 ‘‘120’’; and 

4 (B) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking 

5 ‘‘120’’; and 

6 (2) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the 

7 following: 

8 ‘‘(2) LOAN CANCELLATION AMOUNT.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a bor10 rower described in paragraph (1) who has made 

11 monthly payments as described in paragraph 

12 (1), the Secretary shall cancel the obligation to 

13 repay 5 percent of the balance of principal and 

14 interest due as of the time of such cancellation, 

15 on the eligible Federal Direct Loans made to 

16 the borrower under this part after the borrower 

17 has made each of the following number of 

18 monthly payments: 

19 ‘‘(i) After 60 monthly payments. 

20 ‘‘(ii) After 72 monthly payments. 

21 ‘‘(iii) After 84 monthly payments. 

22 ‘‘(iv) After 96 monthly payments. 

23 ‘‘(v) After 108 monthly payments. 

24 ‘‘(B) REMAINING BALANCE CANCELLED.— 

25 In the case of a borrower described in paraVerDate Mar 15 2010 16:24 Apr 30, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3281.IS S3281

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1 graph (1) who has made 120 monthly payments 

2 as described in paragraph (1), the Secretary 

3 shall cancel the obligation to repay the balance 

4 of principal and interest due as of the time of 

5 such cancellation, on the eligible Federal Direct 

6 Loans made to the borrower under this part.’’. 

7 TITLE III—LOWERING OF INTER8 EST RATES FOR HEALTH PRO9 FESSIONS 

10 SEC. 301. LOWERING OF INTEREST RATES FOR HEALTH 

11 PROFESSIONS. 

12 (a) HEALTH PROFESSIONS STUDENT LOANS.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 705(b) of the Public 

14 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 292d(b)) is amended 

15 by striking ‘‘the average of’’ and all that follows and 

16 inserting ‘‘3.5 percent.’’. 

17 (2) PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS.—Section 719(1) of 

18 the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 292o(1)) 

19 is amended by inserting before the period the fol20 lowing: ‘‘, or an entity providing programs for the 

21 training of physician assistants’’. 

22 (b) PRIMARY CARE LOANS.—Section 722(e) of the 

23 Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 292r(e)) is amended 

24 by striking ‘‘5 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘3.5 percent’’. 


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1 (c) NURSING LOAN PROGRAM.—Section 836(b)(5) of 

2 the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 297b(b)(5)) is 

3 amended by striking ‘‘5 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘3.5 per4 cent’’. 

5 TITLE IV—ENHANCING OPPOR6 TUNITIES FOR MINORITIES 

7 SEC. 401. ENHANCING OPPORTUNITIES FOR MINORITIES. 

8 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—From amounts appro9 priated under this section, the Secretary of Education 

10 shall carry out a pilot program of awarding grants, on a 

11 competitive basis, to eligible institutions to enable the eli12 gible institutions to enhance opportunities for students at13 tending such institutions. 

14 (b) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTIONS.—In this section, the 

15 term ‘‘eligible institution’’ has the meaning given the term 

16 in section 371(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

17 (20 U.S.C. 1067q(a)). 

18 (c) APPLICATIONS.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible institution desir20 ing a grant under this section shall submit an appli21 cation to the Secretary of Education at such time, 

22 in such manner, and containing such information as 

23 the Secretary may require. 

24 (2) CONTENTS.—The application described in 

25 paragraph (1) shall include an outline of the eligible 


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1 institution’s plan for the grant that takes into con2 sideration— 

3 (A) increasing the eligible institution’s edu4 cational program capacity for degree-granting, 

5 certificate-granting, adult education, and non6 credit programs; 

7 (B) increasing the eligible institution’s stu8 dent graduation rates; and 

9 (C) how to achieve the purposes of the 

10 grant without increasing the costs to students 

11 attending the eligible institution. 

12 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

13 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

14 $100,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2011 through 

15 2015. 


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1 TITLE V—ASSISTANT SEC2 RETARY FOR THE EVALUA3 TION AND PROMOTION OF AC4 CESSIBILITY AND AFFORD5 ABILITY IN HIGHER EDU6 CATION 

7 SEC. 501. ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR THE EVALUATION 

8 AND PROMOTION OF ACCESSIBILITY AND AF9 FORDABILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION. 

10 Section 202 of the Department of Education Organi11 zation Act (20 U.S.C. 3412) is amended by adding at the 

12 end the following: 

13 ‘‘(j) ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR THE EVALUATION

14 AND PROMOTION OF ACCESSIBILITY AND AFFORDABILITY

15 IN HIGHER EDUCATION.—There shall be in the Depart16 ment an Assistant Secretary for the Evaluation and Pro17 motion of Accessibility and Affordability in Higher Edu18 cation, who shall be appointed by the President, by and 

19 with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Assistant 

20 Secretary shall— 

21 ‘‘(1) evaluate periodically what has been done 

22 thus far and what further actions should still be 

23 taken, to increase— 

24 ‘‘(A) accessibility to higher education; 


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1 ‘‘(B) higher education opportunities for 

2 underserved minorities; 

3 ‘‘(C) capacity to educate more medical per4 sonnel; and 

5 ‘‘(D) debt forgiveness to encourage grad6 uates of institutions of higher education to pur7 sue public service; 

8 ‘‘(2) evaluate periodically the impact of the 

9 Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act of 

10 2010 (Public Law 111–152) in order to determine 

11 the effectiveness of the educational grants and finan12 cial assistance programs modified by such Act; 

13 ‘‘(3) promote higher education, including higher 

14 education accessibility, affordability, and completion 

15 options, to prospective and current students of insti16 tutions of higher education; and 

17 ‘‘(4) not later than 30 days after the end of 

18 each quarter of a fiscal year, submit to the appro19 priate committees of Congress a report that— 

20 ‘‘(A) describes current trends regarding 

21 the accessibility and affordability of higher edu22 cation in the United States, including the im23 pact of the educational grants and financial as24 sistance programs established under or modified 


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1 by the Student Loan Forgiveness and Repay2 ment Assistance Act of 2010; and 

3 ‘‘(B) includes the Assistant Secretary’s 

4 recommendations to Congress regarding how to 

5 increase the accessibility and affordability of 

6 higher education.’’. 

Æ 


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