Interesting Views on Student Loan Interest
– By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer
It’s a well-known fact that college students have a far more significant burden to bear than that of books and lessons — the debt that they accumulate as they go through the years of academic life. If Congressman George Miller has his way, the debt load on students’ shoulders will be considerably lighter. The incoming chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce is working on plans that will effectively decrease interest rates on the loans issued to college students, as part of the domestic agenda of the new Congress.
His press conference, centered around the theme, “Strengthening America’s Middle Class,” focused on how to increase Pell Grants for deserving students, besides offering a solution to help incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi deal with rising student debt. With the Department of Education estimating that more than 200,000 students either defer or forego a college education because of its high associated costs, Miller said his plan was to recommend a 50 percent cut in interest rates on need-based loans, from 6.8 to 3.4 percent. SF Gate reports:
Miller also plans to take up the reauthorization of President Bush’s "No Child Left Behind" education legislation, which expires next year. But of all the issues in public education, "the grandaddy of them all is funding," he said. "To improve teaching, to improve professional development, to make sure we are able to have talented teachers in all classrooms, in all schools … we are going to have to have that."