House to Consider Reducing Interest Rates on Student Loans

On Wednesday, January 17, the House is scheduled to consider H.R. 5, the College Student Relief Act of 2007. The bill, introduced on Friday with 209 cosponsors (218 votes are needed for passage), would cut interest rates in half on need-based federal college loans over the next five years.

According to REP. George Miller of California, chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, "Once fully phased in, these cuts would save the typical borrower, with $13,800 in need-based federal student loan debt, $4,400 in savings over the life of the loan." Miller said, "Tuition and fees at four-year public colleges and universities have risen 41 percent—after inflation—since 2001. The typical student now graduates with $17,500 in total federal student loan debt. According to past estimates from the Department of Education, as many as 200,000 would-be students are forced to delay or forgo attending college altogether due to the cost."

National PTA supports legislation and programs, such as federal grants to students and other forms of financial aid, that foster an economically, culturally, and ethnically diverse student population. Public benefits, such as increased economic growth and productivity, justify greater federal support for increasing access to postsecondary education for all citizens, particularly for those students who, due to financial constraints, would not otherwise enroll.