WASHINGTON – With the signing of yet another historical piece of legislation, President Obama made good on his promise to make higher education more affordable and accessible for all Americans.
WASHINGTON – With the signing of yet another historical piece of legislation, President Obama made good on his promise to make higher education more affordable and accessible for all Americans.
The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, enacted on March 30, strengthens the Pell Grant program, invests in community colleges, extends support for historically Black colleges and other minority-serving institutions, and helps student borrowers manage their student loan debt by capping repayments at 10 percent of their discretionary income. These efforts will be fully paid for by ending the government subsidies currently given to banks and other financial institutions that make guaranteed federal student loans.
“By removing the bank’s middle men and eliminating millions of dollars in annual subsidies we are able to ensure that students have a more competitive and robust program for entering colleges and leaving them and going on to jobs not burdened so heavily by additional loans,” said Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council.
In addition to increasing affordability, this legislation comes at a crucial time for HBCUs and predominantly Black institutions which will receive $850 and $150 million, respectively. HBCUs and PBIs are reportedly enrolling higher proportions of low- and middle-income students. The bill invests at total of $2.55 billion in these institutions with the intention of providing students with the support they need to stay in school and to graduate.
“The success of these institutions is not only vital to the success of African Americans, but it is also vital to the success of all Americans,” said John S. Wilson, executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, in a recent teleconference announcing the money.
Strengthening HBCUs and PBIs, said Wilson, pushes the U.S. Department of Education closer to their goal set by President Obama last February, that “by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.”
He adds, “That is the goal that guides structure and context for all we’re doing.” Starting July 1, all new federal student loans will be direct loans delivered and collected by private companies under performance-based contracts with the Department of Education. According to the Congressional Budget Office, ending these wasteful subsidies frees up nearly $68 billion, which this new law reinvests back into students and into deficit reduction over the next 11 years. Special to the NNPA from the Afro American Newspapers
Copyright 2010 Associated Press
About Post Author
