Date: 2007-01-17
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I May consume. Madam Speaker. today we have an opportunity to provide a great deal of assistance to thoge students who borrow from the subsidized student loan program. I want to thank the Rules Committee for providing for the passage of the -rule for the consideration of H.R. 5. the College Student Relief Act. Today. millions of students and their families all across America are struggling to figure out how to pay for college. They are making critical decisions about whether college is in their future. based on what they can afford and how much debt they will be alle to reasonably take on. We know that a college education is as important today as a high school diploma was a generation ago. Yet. since the 200b2001 academic years. tuition and fees at public colleges and universities have soared by 41 percent. while those at the private universities have inceased by 17 percent. This is not a problem that we can ignore. The College Student Relief Act helps students andtheir families by cutting interest rates for undergraduate subsidized student loans in half. from 6.8 percent to 3:4 percent. phased in over 5 years. Once this interest rate is fully phased in. a student with an average -loan debt of $13.800 will save approximately $4.400 over the life of their foan I am pleased to report that the College Student Relief Act is fully paid for. and complies with the Houses new. strict PAYGO rules. Additionally. all changes to both students and lenders only apply to future loans. This legislation will give muchneeded relief to some 5.5 million students who borrow subsidized loans each year. The majority of students helped by College Student Relief Act are low- and middleincome students with family incomes betwieen $26.000 to $68.000. Half of these students are eligible to receive Pell Grants. but many such students find that Pell Grants alone are insufficient. Because of the failure to increase the yalue of the Pell Grants over the last decade. the Pell Grant does not cover the cost of education. and so those students who are eligible for Pell Grants because of family income and resources also find out they have to borrow. They borrow from this program. so this program is an additional savings. when we pass this legislation. to those who are eligible for the Pell Grants. Providing debt relief to our students is the right thing to do. Current studies indicate that more students are borrowing more than ever. The debt level of graduates from public universities has skyrocketed by 58 percent in the past decade. The Pell Grant recipients and students with modest incomes are likely to borrow more often and in greater amount than other students. This is just the first step in helping students and their families with college education. We plan to increase Pell Grants later in the appropriation process in the amount which has seriously fallen behind the cost of college. and we need to again take a look at making college tax credits and deductions simpler to use and more robust. That is what this Congress is committed to doing in the future when we are done with these six bills in the first 100 hours. I also believe that colleges and universities should play their part in addressing affordability by becoming more diligent about cutting expenses and more transparent about college costs. We hope to address this in the 110th Congress when we reauthorize the Higher Education Act. We cannot ignore the fact that students and families are drowning in debt in such a way that many of them have been forced to make difficult choices. Some choose just not to go to school. they stop going to school or they defer going to school. or they choose professions that will be more lucrative. instead of public service professions such as teaching. social work. law enforcement and other such professions because they know the debt that they will have to repay. . The debt issue and the agony families feel when they think about being able to afford college for their children is all too familiar a story to many of us who have been involved in this issue for some time. I am pleased this bill has earned wide support in the education community among students. with such groups as U.S. PIRG and the United States Students Association. with colleges and universities across the country. including the National Association for Independent Colleges and Universities and the American Council on Education. and with labor unions such as the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5. the College Student Relief Act of 2007. so we can tell middle- and lowincome families that we want to invest in a college education. we want to help these families find a way to pay for that. and we want to do whatever we can to reduce the burden of debt that these students are taking on today in unprecedented levels. the first generation to be put in that situation. I think this is a good beginning in the first 100 hours to put this Congress on record not just as hoping to do something for students. but in fact doing something for 5.5 million students who will be eligible for the benefits under this interest rate cut. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.