Republican U.S. senators revealed five bills this week that they claim will confront the nation’s pressing student debt issue.
Sens. Bill Cassidy (LA), Chuck Grassley (IA), John Cornyn (TX), Tommy Tuberville (AL), and Tim Scott (SC) introduced their legislation as addressing “the root causes of the student debt crisis” rather than providing “merely a Band-Aid” through student debt cancelation that will lead to another taxpayer burden later down the line, according to USA Today.
The five-bill package, called the Lowering Education Costs and Debt Act, comes as President Joe Biden’s embattled student debt forgiveness plan is expected to be ruled on any day by the Supreme Court, as The Dallas Express reported.
In the meantime, the Biden administration is trying to find an alternative path to make its initiative to cancel the federal student loan debt for up to $20,000 for qualified borrowers come to fruition.
As The Dallas Express reported, federal student borrowers were recently told that interest accrual and payments will resume this fall after a pause of more than three years. As of April 1, the outstanding federal student loan balance was $1.635 trillion.
The Lowering Education Costs and Debt Act includes the following bills.
- The College Transparency Act
This bill aspires to modify the college data reporting system to render vital university metrics, such as graduation rates and post-graduation debt, easily accessible to prospective students.
The idea behind it is to facilitate better-informed decisions about higher education, akin to how consumers purchase cars or houses.
- The Understanding the True Cost of College Act
This bill would mandate the provision of uniform financial aid letters that clearly outline the costs of attending the institution.
This would aim to simplify cost comparisons across universities for prospective students.
- The Informed Student Borrowing Act
This legislation mandates that prospective students be provided with comprehensive information about their loans.
This includes the duration of the loan, the expected monthly repayment, and the likely earnings post-graduation from their chosen school and program.
“Colleges and universities using the availability of federal loans to increase their tuitions have left too many students drowning in debt without a path for success,” Cassidy explained, according to The Hill.
- The Streamlining Accountability and Value in Education (SAVE) for Students Act
This bill intends to streamline the loan repayment options currently offered by the Department of Education.
It proposes reducing the nine options to two. The first would be a standard 10-year repayment plan and the second would be the REPAYE program, which caters to low-income borrowers with minimal loan balances.
This bill also seeks to restrict loans for academic programs that fail to provide a satisfactory return on investment. For instance, a graduate program that does not lead to a proven increase in salary than holders of a high school or undergraduate degree would not qualify for a federal loan.
- The Graduate Opportunity and Affordable Loans Act
This act proposes putting an end to graduate PLUS loans that have a higher borrowing limit than undergraduate loans.
The reasoning behind this move is the belief that these loans have contributed to the ballooning of college costs.
Tuition costs have risen alongside inflation this past year. As The Dallas Express previously reported, newly enrolled students at Ivy League schools will face annual costs amounting to nearly $80,000.
