WASHINGTON – On July 12, the House of Representatives passed the largest single investment in college financial aid in more than 60 years, which will help millions of students and families pay for college – at no cost to the American taxpayer.

The College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 (HR 2669) increases college aid by $18 billion over the next five years. This bill pays for itself by reducing the excessive federal subsidies being paid to the college loan industry. The House voted in favor of this legislation 273-149.

Among those voting to support the bill was Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA).

"The best way to grow our economy and strengthen our middle class is by helping more people attend college," said Thompson. "Unfortunately, every year, about 200,000 American students hold off on going to college or skip it altogether because they can't afford it. Our country was built on the principle that everyone can better themselves, and I'm proud that we are taking this step to make higher education accessible to more Americans."

This legislation reduces the cost of college in three important ways:

• First, the maximum value of the Pell Grant scholarship will increase by $500 over the next five years. About 6 million low- and moderate-income students would benefits from this increase.

• Second, this legislation would cut student loan interest rates in half, which will benefit millions of borrowers. Like legislation passed by the House earlier this year, interest rates will be cut from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent, saving the average borrower $4,400 over the life of the loan.

• Third, this bill prevents student borrowers from facing unmanageable levels of federal student debt by guaranteeing that borrowers will never have to spend more than 15 percent of their yearly discretionary income on loan repayments and by allowing borrowers in economic hardship to have their loans forgiven after 20 years.

"Tuition prices have skyrocketed for years, meaning more and more students and families are taking on increasing amounts of debt," added Thompson. "Their debt burden makes it extremely hard to fulfill dreams of homeownership, a family and retirement security. This bill will make it easier for millions of Americans to achieve the goal of a college education."

The College Cost Reduction Act includes a number of other provisions that will ease the financial burden imposed on students and families by the cost of college, including:

• Tuition assistance for excellent undergraduate students who agree to teach in the nation's public schools;

• Loan forgiveness for college graduates that go into public service professions;

• Increased federal loan limits so that students won't have to rely as heavily on costlier private loans;

• New tuition cost containment strategies; and

• Landmark investments in Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions and minority serving institutions.

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Donna Christopher - Uh Oh! IP:12.210.242.xxx | 07-15-2007 13:47:22 We're really gonna need to reinstitute the military draft if we do this. VA educational benefits are a BIG reason many young men & women enlist to begin with. Take away that carrot and your really gonna need that stick I do think its a great idea to a degree. We are currently being undercut by guys like Bill Gates who sez we don't have enough skilled workers. Bill speaks in an incomplete sentence, what he really means is America doesn't have enough skilled workers who will work for crap wages. News watchers will have seen legal immigrants protesting getting their visas updated (our govt is slow at it, just like issuing passports). They don't have their knickers in a knot cause their in a hurry to become citizens. They can't get promoted or a raise w/o that update. I know these things because my husband did layout design of computer chips for 35 years, 25 at one company. They replaced him with 3 H1-B work visa middle easterners. Took all 3 to fill his shoes. But that works for corporate America cause these workers aren't getting raises or promotions (see above)and certainly aren't making what their predecessors made. Everyone they laid off was over 50 and had to sign a waiver that they weren't being released because of age, sign it and you get a years wages and the opportunity to pay your medical premium for one year. Don't and you can take on our stable of lawyers over age discrimination. At least with this bill our kids won't face a mountain debt and no prospect of gainful employment because they furthered their education

jcrandell - Uh OH! WHAT? Registered | 07-27-2007 11:44:43 Donna, How in the world do you make the outrageous leap from a feeble and impotent bill that will inadequately reduce the skyrocketing cost of college to reinstating the draft? That’s illogical and an insult to the brave men and women that join the military to protect the freedoms of their fellow citizens, such as you in making such preposterous proclamations. Besides, the research that I have read suggests that many of the young men and women join the military for the discipline (that they did not receive from their progressive parents) rather than the educational benefits. As hard as it was to get my Soldiers to take the free college classes they were entitled too, I find that more believable than your baseless assumption. Regardless of what the anti-military pundits you get your information from say (or is it “sez”?) our unrivaled military is currently manned by the best Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors, and Marines in the world and history. They do not need the degradation of their ranks from a mandatory-forced service system and the sub-caliber servicemen it would produce. Maybe in few years, after this Democratic Congress together with a Democrat in the White House, has had a chance to deteriorate our military then your wish will come to pass. By the way, if you are going to criticize someone for speaking improperly shouldn’t you use accurate syntax in your diatribe? Or are “sez” and “gonna” parts of the progressive pseudo-intellectual speak these days?

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