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Thursday, September 06, 2007
College Access Bill To Be Enacted
CongressDaily (subscription required) reports that the President will sign the Higher Education Access Act of 2007- a revenue-neutral bill that will give more help to students to pay for college.
The package, which was agreed upon by a conference committee Wednesday and is expected to clear both houses by end of the week, calls for increasing the maximum Pell Grant award from the current $4,300 to $5,400 over five years and reducing interest rates from the existing 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent. In other loan relief measures, the bill would cap repayments to 15 percent of disposable income and provide loan forgiveness after 10 years to military personnel and a range of other public service occupations such as prosecutors, public defenders, nurses and librarians.
The measure passed 78-18 in the Senate and 273-149 in the House. President Bush had said he opposed it, but did not issue a veto threat.
Posted by Matt Lewis
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