Lowering Education Costs and Debt Act (S. 1972)
This bill makes revisions to our current federal student loan system by providing alternative solutions for student loan repayment. This includes a 10-year and income-driven repayment plan. Also, data will be retrieved from the National Center for Education Statistics to gain information on post-secondary students. This bill will require higher education institutions to use standard terminology for financial aid offers to students. The Department of Education would be in charge of developing these formats and standard terminology. Moreover, when the institution provides a student with a loan, it must coincide with financial aid counseling for every first distribution during the award year.
Sponsor: Sen. Bill Cassidy (Republican, Louisiana)
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Opponents say
• "Cassidy’s act is unlikely to move forward with Democrats in control of the Senate, though he said during the press conference that the bill’s provisions are not partisan and provide just information to students. Also on, Wednesday Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who chairs the Senate education committee, introduced the latest version of the College for All Act, which would double the maximum Pell Grant award, guarantee tuition-free community college for all students and allow eligible students to attend four-year institutions without taking on debt. The Lowering Education Costs and Debt Act, on the other hand, would prevent colleges and universities from accessing federal financial aid for their students if program graduates don’t clear certain earnings thresholds... Higher education groups say institutions need to do better rather than move to one required form." Source: Inside Higher Ed
Proponents say
• "Anyone with a college-aged child knows that college costs are soaring. Some colleges and universities have used the availability of federal loans to increase tuitions, and this has left many students drowning in debt with no pathway for success. President Biden’s answer is to enact his $400 billion student debt scheme, which doesn’t forgive debt. It merely transfers the responsibility to pay it back away from the person who willingly took on the debt onto taxpayers who maybe never went to college or paid back their student loans, in some cases sacrificing lifestyle in order to pay back those student loans. This is not a fix, this is merely a band-aid, and the band-aid saddles taxpayers with a burden. Our legislation puts downward pressure on tuition and empowers students to make the educational decisions that put them on track to academically and financially succeed. And unlike President Biden’s plan, this actually addresses the root causes of the student debt crisis." Source: Sen. Bill Cassidy (Republican, Louisiana)
- Ranking Member Cassidy, Colleagues Unveil Landmark Package To Lower Education Costs and Student Debt (Press Release)
- A Conversation with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) on the Lowering Education Costs and Debt Act (American Enterprise Institute)
- Senate Republicans Introduce Plan to Tackle Student Loan Debt (The Hill)
- Promise Kept: Biden Rules on For-Profit Schools are on the Books, but Delays Make Effects Unclear (PolitiFact)
- Sen. Bill Cassidy’s Largest Donors (OpenSecrets)
