Date: 2007-07-11
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 5 minutes. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of H.R. 2669. the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007. which was reported by the Committee on Education and Labor pursuant to the reconciliation instructions of the budget resolution. The committee was tasked to decrease the deficit by $750 million without reducing the assistance that makes college ifore affordable to students. In keeping with that policy. this bill will significantly reduce the costs that place college out of reach for far too many students today. This bill represents the largest effort to help students and families pay for college since 1944. when the Congress passed the GI Bill. which helped millions of veterans go to college. the first generation to do so under that legislation. For years. college costs are rising rapidly and are far outstripping families ability to pay for them. Students are graduating with more debt than ever before and are working harder to pay back the loans which they borrowed to pay for their college education. � Several hundred thousand students a year now decide to forego a college education. even though they are completely qualified. fully prepared to go to college. because they dont know how theyll pay for it or how theyll manage the debt that they will inherit when they graduate. Recognizing this need. H.R. 2669 deronstrates our commitment to growing and strengthening Americas middle class by making college more affordable and accessible for all qualified students. It also recognizes our commitment to those who are less fortunate. for lowincome families. to make sure that we increase the Pell Grants that are available to the students. and also lowcost loans to those same students who need to borrow beyond the Pell. Grant. The College Cost Reduction Act. which passed the Committee on Education and Labor with bipartisan support. boosts the college financial aid by roughly $18 billion over the next 5 years. And this bill does so in a fiscally responsible way. We are committed to the payasyougo budget rules. and we honor that commitment with this legislation. H.R. 2669 recognizes that we have an obligation to make sure that students have the maximum opportunity to take advantage of a college education and that they need access to that education. they need preparation for that education. they need success while theyre there. and they need completion of their education. To do that weve made sure that. regardless of their background. that they will be prepared for college. they will have access to higher education. they will graduate to achieve their goals. and they will not be so burdened with unmanageable debt that that becomes a failure. The bill does that by. for lowincome students. increasing the Pell Grant $500 over the next 4 years. This is a very significant increase in the Pell Grant. As many know. the President promised many years ago that he would have it up to $5.100. and the fact of the matter is it was at $4.050. They failed to increase the Pell Grants. It cuts in half the interest rates for subsidized loans for hardworking families that are going to borrow money. students that are borrowing money. We will cut their interest rates in half from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent. This will save the average student graduating with about $13.000 in debt. $4.400 over the life of that loan. We guarantee that those students who borrow this money. when they begin their time in the work world. they will not have to commit more. if they decide not to. to commit more than 15 percent of their income- to pay back the loans so that they can enter those professions that may not have great starting wages. but over time in that career. they will build up income. Wealso provide. in keeping with the mandate. to try to provide highly qualified teachers in every classroom for students who are excelling in college and want to teach. if they make a commitment to teach in difficult public schools. we will provide $4.000 a year in tuition assistance while theyre in school. not after they graduate. while theyre in school. to a maximum of $16.000. For those students who go to college and they get their degrees and they want to enter professions and serve the public. they want to be first responders. they want to be nurses. they want to be firefighters and public defenders and prosecutors and special education teachers and early childhood teachers. we offer them a $5.000 forgiveness of their loans if they stay in that field for 5 years. We know that in each one of these areas there is a crisis in attracting people to those fields. Many in Congress. hundreds of Members of Congress. have coauthored legislation to provide loan forgiveness for some of these professions. This bill. in fact. funds that loan forgiveness for those individuals. We also increase the loan limits so that students will have greater access to more money to pay for the increasing cost of college and not have to go to the private market. where they will be able to continue to take advantage of the subsidies proviled in the Federal loan program. Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to proceed for 2 additional minutes.