President Obama & Vice President Joe Biden

President Obama & Vice President Joe Biden

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Another victory: Student loan reform

Another victory: Student loan reform

In Spring 2007, on a conference call with students, then-Senator Barack Obama called for major reform to federal student loans:

"We shouldn't be providing billions in taxpayer-funded giveaways to private banks. We should be providing an affordable, accessible college education to every American."

This morning, President Obama signed those historic reforms into law....

Dr. Jill Biden, an educator for 29 years, just recorded a short video explaining what these groundbreaking reforms mean for education in America. The bill the President signed this morning includes historic investments to make education more affordable, and delivers on a key campaign promise. The legislation:

-- Ends subsidies to special-interest private lending companies.

-- Doubles funding for Pell Grants to help more students afford a college education.

-- Will cap a graduate's annual student-loan repayments at 10 percent of his or her income.

-- Helps an additional 5 million Americans earn degrees and certificates over the next decade, by revitalizing programming at our nation's community colleges.

It's a tremendous achievement, but the news may get lost in the excitement around the passage of comprehensive health care reform. So we need to make sure that when folks in your district open the local paper to the letters page this week, they'll see notes from their neighbors supporting these important reforms.




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