The House of Representatives
will vote today to extend the Higher Education Act for three months. The extension
will ensure the student loan programs continue while Congress debates budget
reconciliation and higher education reauthorization. Both the House and the
Senate still intend to move forward with a budget reconciliation bill that could
include as much as $11 billion in cuts from students and the student loan programs.
The proposed House reauthorization
bill H.609 could cost the average student borrower up to $5,800 in additional
interest payments. These provisions will likely be included in the House reconciliation
package and, if enacted, would be the largest cut to the student loan programs
in history.
"Congress is trying
to balance the budget on the backs of student," explains Luke Swarthout,
associate with the State PIRGs' Higher Education Project. "Congress should
stop this raid on student aid and focus on making college more affordable and
more accessible for millions of struggling students."
State PIRGs are non-profit,
non-partisan public interest advocacy groups. The Higher Education Project was
established in 1994 to secure more aid for students, with a focus on additional
grants, reduced debt, and better service to students in the federal financial
aid system.
