Tag Archives: financial aid

Obama Administration Issues Student Aid Bill of Rights

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This week in Georgia President Obama announced the release of a Student Aid Bill of Rights along with a series of executive actions aimed at helping students who owe student loans held by the government.

The primary components of these actions will be the creation of a centralized complaint system for federal student loan borrowers as well as a single website where they can manage their loan payments.

By next July students and borrowers will be able to file complaints about federal student loan lenders, servicers, collection agencies and colleges and universities.  Through this effort students would have the ability to track what is happening with the status of a complaint and the U.S. Department of Education would have aggregate data to use from the complaint system to make decisions regarding performance of its loan services in addition to current metrics the Department collects. Finally the Department will study how it should collect and resolve complaints it receives about colleges and universities.

In addition, the series of executive actions taken by the President include steps to improve and standardize the customer service experience of federal student loan borrowers. For example the Department will establish a single website where all federal loan borrowers can access their account and payment information.  The Department also plans to direct its contracted loan services to provide enhance disclosures when their loans are transferred between servicers and to more aggressively reach out when borrowers fall behind in their payments or need help changing repayment plans. Finally the Department will instruct loan servicers to apply prepayments  – money a borrower pays in excess of their monthly minimum – to the loans with the highest interest rate, unless the borrower requests otherwise.

Beyond the Department, the U.S. Treasury will look for ways to let borrowers provide multi-year authorization for the IRS to release the income information needed to apply for federal income-based repayment programs.

Finally, the Department will engage a task force to develop regulatory and legislative proposals to help struggling borrowers with both federal and private student loans.  One topic that will be considered is a change to bankruptcy law.

U.S. House Advances Higher Education Legislation

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This week the U.S. House of Representatives took action on two bills related to the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

The Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act (HR 4983) eliminates the College Navigator and the accountability lists put forward by the U.S. Department of Education. The website and lists would be replaced by the College Dashboard Website. The new website, developed and maintained by the Department of Education, would include institutional-level information including enrollment data, completion rates, costs, financial aid offered and cohort default rates.

The Advancing Competency-Based Education Demonstration Project Act of 2013 (HR 3136) would relax financial aid rules to allow institutions to offer competency-based degrees. Several amendments were offered and accepted to the Act, including language to pilot the use of the tax return as the FAFSA.

The bills, introduced in June, are part of a series of bills advanced by the House to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. The bills now go to the U.S. Senate for consideration. The fate of the House bills is unknown. The Senate has decided to pursue a comprehensive approach to the reauthorization, instead of the piecemeal approach advanced by the House. Therefore it is unlikely that these bills or any other legislation related to the reauthorization will see any significant movement until the new Congress enters in January 2015.

Lead Democrat Releases Plan for HEA Reauthorization

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On the heels of the Republican release of their proposal to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, the Democrats released a “discussion draft” yesterday.

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chair of the Senate education committee, released a draft proposal that will remain open for public comment through August 29.  In an outline of the proposal, the Senator put forward the following concepts:

  • Increase affordability and reduce college costs for students by creating a state-federal college affordability partnership to increase state investment in higher education and lower the costs of tuition for students.
  • Reinstate year-round Pell Grants.
  • Eliminate origination fees on federal Direct Loans.
  • Support community college and industry partnerships that promote innovation in higher education.
  • Expand access to dual enrollment and early college high school programs.
  • Strengthen student loan servicing standards through the creation of common-sense consumer protections.
  • Streamline repayment plans to create a single income-based repayment option.
  • Automatically enroll severely delinquent borrowers into income-based repayment.
  • Allow private student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy.
  • Reform abuses in the collections process and reduce unfair fees.
  • Provide student and policymakers with more meaningful disclosures and accountability metrics for institutions, including loan repayment rates.
  • Establish a risk-sharing commission to explore holding low-performing institutions financially responsible for poor student outcomes.
  • Protect taxpayers by changing the 90-10 rule for for-profit institutions to 85-15.
  • Guarantee that federal education dollars are not used on advertising and marketing.
  • Create a student complaint system to better track harmful practices.
  • Authorize several programs to reform and improve teacher and school leader preparation.
  • Provide notification to middle and high school students of their potential eligibility for federal aid.
  • Provide better up-front information and disclosures to prospective students.
  • Standardize the financial aid award letter .
  • Strengthen entrance and exit loan counseling.

 

The Obama Administration Expands Loan Program to Older Borrowers

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Yesterday, President Obama directed his Administration to make an additional 5 million existing student loan borrowers eligible for the federal government’s  – Pay As You Earn – income-based repayment program.

This change will allow all who borrowed federal direct loans as students, regardless of when they borrowed, to cap their payments at 10 percent of their monthly incomes. In addition any remaining loan debt would be forgiven after twenty years.  Currently loan forgiveness is only available to borrowers who first took out a loan after September 30, 2007 and continued borrowing after September 30, 2011.  It is worth noting that the change to loan forgiveness eligibility was set to become an option for all new borrowers beginning July 1.

The Department will begin the process to amend its regulations this fall with a goal of making the new plan available to borrowers by December 2015.

Obama also directed the U.S. Department of Education to increase outreach to better publicize the income-based repayment programs through targeted outreach and to study how to more effectively counsel borrowers.  The Administration will also renegotiate its contracts with loan servicing companies to encourage them to do more for struggling borrowers.

The plan to expand income-based repayment plans was critiqued by congressional Republicans, raising concerns about the cost to taxpayers and the administration’s legal authority to make the change without legislation passed by Congress.

House Higher Education Committee Launches into Work

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Fresh off the floor, the House Higher Education Committee held a public hearing focused on legislation that would make changes to existing state financial aid programs.

One proposal – HB 2615 – would increase the GPA requirement to qualify for a State Need Grant and reduce the period of time a student would be eligible to receive a State Need Grant from five years to four years.

House Bill 2619 would change the current State Need Grant and College Bound programs from a need-based grant program to a “Pay It Forward” program. The bill would require students that receive grants toward tuition agree, through a grant contract, to make contributions to the program one year after completing their higher education program or one year after discontinuation of their higher education program based on their ability to pay contributions based on a percentage of income.

The Committee followed the public hearing with a work session focused on higher education capacity expansion for the state’s private career schools and regulating the private career schools in the State.

 

DREAM Act Passes House; Heads to Governor’s Desk

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Last night the last bill to receive a vote on the House floor was the DREAM Act. Passed with strong bipartisan support (75-22), the bill now heads to Governor Inslee’s desk for his signature. He is expected to sign the bill into law.

The bill would allow students to be eligible for the State Need Grant program if they met the following criteria:

  • Completed the full senior year of high school and obtained a diploma at a Washington public or private high school, or received the equivalent of a diploma;
  • Lived in Washington for at least three years immediately prior to receiving the diploma or its equivalent;
  • Continuously lived in the state after receiving the diploma or its equivalent and until being admitted to a public institution of higher education; and
  • Provided to the institution an affidavit indicating that the individual will file an application to become a permanent resident at the earliest opportunity the individual is eligible to do so and a willingness to engage in other activities necessary to acquire citizenship.

Or

  • Granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) Status;
  • Completed the full senior year of high school and obtained a diploma at a Washington public or private high school, or received the equivalent of a diploma;
  • Lived in Washington for at least three years immediately prior to receiving the diploma or its equivalent; and
  • Continuously lived in the state after receiving the diploma orits equivalent and until
    being admitted to a public institution of higher education.

House Higher Education Committee Closes Week with Public Hearings

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Bright and early this morning the House Higher Education Committee held public hearings on a range of bills that focus on funding for higher education, affordability and access.

The Committee kicked off the morning with a hearing on legislation that would adopt the goals put forward by the Washington Student Achievement Council (WASAC) (HB 2626) and heard legislation to implement a performance funding framework for Washington’s public baccalaureate institutions (HB 2653).

Among the bills taken up by the Committee this morning was legislation that would move Washington forward to implement a voluntary Pay-It-Forward model for students at five high schools selected by WASAC (HB 2720). Evergreen, Washington State University (WSU), and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) expressed concerns about the proposal with regard to the impact on student debt and access. Evergreen and WSU encouraged legislators to focus on fully funding the existing financial aid programs and investing in the institutions to offset increases in tuition. The Economic Opportunity Institute and a citizen testified in support.

The Committee closed the meeting with the passage of three bills. House Bill 2429 would create the Washington Advance Higher Education Loan Pilot Program, House Bill 2396 would require WASAC to conduct an analysis of Washington’s Running Start Program, and House Bill 2486 would eliminate the current statute that prohibits the Department of Corrections from paying for post-secondary education and would authorize the DOC to implement post-secondary education programs within existing funds.

Washington Senate Majority Coalition Caucus Introduces Real Hope Act (a.k.a. DREAM Act

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This afternoon the Washington Senate Majority Coalition Caucus held a press conference to announce the introduction of the Real Hope Act (SB 6523). The bill could go to the Senate floor as early as Friday.

The bill would allow students to be eligible for the State Need Grant program if they met the following criteria:

  • Completed the full senior year of high school and obtained a diploma at a Washington public or private high school, or received the equivalent of a diploma;
  • Lived in Washington for at least three years immediately prior to receiving the diploma or its equivalent;
  • Continuously lived in the state after receiving the diploma or its equivalent and until being admitted to a public institution of higher education; and
  • Provided to the institution an affidavit indicating that the individual will file an application to become a permanent resident at the earliest opportunity the individual is eligible to do so and a willingness to engage in other activities necessary to acquire citizenship.

Or

  • Granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) Status;
  • Completed the full senior year of high school and obtained a diploma at a Washington public or private high school, or received the equivalent of a diploma;
  • Lived in Washington for at least three years immediately prior to receiving the diploma or its equivalent; and
  • Continuously lived in the state after receiving the diploma orits equivalent and until
    being admitted to a public institution of higher education.

The bill mirrors similar legislation passed by the Washington House on the first day of session with a strong bipartisan vote.

 

Washington House Passes DREAM Act

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The Washington House of Representatives took action on the first piece of legislation yesterday. The House reintroduced the DREAM Act (HB 1817) and passed it off the House floor with a strong bipartisan vote (71-23).

The DREAM Act would allow the children of undocumented immigrants to be eligible to apply for college financial aid from the state.

The DREAM Act now goes to the Senate for consideration.

U.S. Department of Education Announces Series of Public Hearings on College Rating System

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This week the U.S. Department of Education announced a series of regional public hearings to gather feedback from the public and stakeholders about the Administration’s proposal to create a federal college ratings system.

Next month representatives from the Department will travel to four campuses across the country to solicit feedback on the proposal. The Department will hold hearings throughout November at California State University Dominguez Hills campus, Los Angeles CA; George Mason University, Fairfax, VA; the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA; and Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA.