I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5270

To make careers in public service more feasible for students who graduate 

with high educational loan debt. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 7, 2004

Mr. RENZI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL

To make careers in public service more feasible for students 

who graduate with high educational loan debt.

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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Education for Public 

5 Service Act of 2004’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The Nation benefits greatly from the con9 tributions of persons who obtain higher education, 

10 including graduate and professional degrees, and 
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1 then devote much of their careers to public service. 

2 High educational debt is an impediment that dis3 courages borrowers from pursuing low-paying public 

4 service employment. 

5 (2) In 1993, Congress created the income-con6 tingent loan repayment option to help high-debt bor7 rowers to have lower-paying public service careers. 

8 (3) This plan has not yet succeeded in removing 

9 the barriers to public service created by high edu10 cational debt. The principal problem is that bor11 rowers who elect this option do not receive debt for12 giveness until they have been paying for 25 years. 

13 Graduates are unable to contemplate such a long pe14 riod of repayment before their educational debts are 

15 forgiven. Many of them expect to be helping to pay 

16 for their children’s education within that period. 

17 (4) The goal of income-contingent repayment 

18 can be better achieved by reducing the option’s pe19 riod of loan repayment and forgiveness so that pub20 lic service professionals will not be forced to continue 

21 repaying their debt for 25 years after completion of 

22 graduate school. 

23 (5) Some borrowers are discouraged from using 

24 the income-continent repayment option because it in25 cludes a severe ‘‘marriage penalty’’. It attributes the 
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1 incomes of both spouses to each borrower spouse, so 

2 that when a borrower marries, the amount of repay3 ment due under the option is vastly increased. The 

4 option can be made more equitable by attributing 

5 only half of the income of a couple to each spouse. 

6 (6) Making adjustments to the income-contin7 gent repayment option will improve access to higher 

8 education opportunities and will enable more grad9 uates to work in public service. 

10 SEC. 3. STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 455(d) of the Higher 

12 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(d)(1)(D)) is 

13 amended—

14 (1) in paragraph (1)(D), by inserting ‘‘and sub15 ject to paragraph (6)’’ after ‘‘prescribed by the Sec16 retary’’; and 

17 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

18 paragraph: 

19 ‘‘(6) MAXIMUM REPAYMENT PERIOD FOR PUB20 LIC SERVICE EMPLOYEES.—

21 ‘‘(A) SHORTENED PERIOD IN RECOGNITION

22 OF SERVICE.—For purposes of paragraph 

23 (1)(D), in the case of borrowers who, after 

24 electing to repay a loan on the income contin25 gent repayment plan, have been employed by a 
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1 qualified public service employer, whether or 

2 not continuously, for at least eight years on a 

3 full-time basis, the extended period of time pre4 scribed by the Secretary shall not exceed 15 

5 years. 

6 ‘‘(B) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this 

7 paragraph, the term ‘qualified public service 

8 employer’ means any State, local government, 

9 Federal agency, or other organization (as such 

10 terms are defined by section 3371 of title 5, 

11 United States Code), any other office or entity 

12 of the legislative branch, and any employer that 

13 is exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3) 

14 or section 501(c)(4) of title 26, United States 

15 Code.’’. 

16 (b) REPAYMENT SCHEDULES FOR MARRIED BOR17 ROWERS.—Section 455(e)(2) of the Higher Education Act 

18 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(e)(2)) is amended by—

19 (1) by striking ‘‘, or, if the borrower’’ and all 

20 that follows and inserting a period; and 

21 (2) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘If the 

22 borrower is married, one-half of the combined ad23 justed gross income of the borrower and of the bor24 rower’s spouse shall be attributed to the borrower.’’.

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