House Committee Passes Bill Proposing New Federal Student Loans Limits

The Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity Through Education Reform (PROSPER) Act proposes changes in support for higher education access, including capping borrowing for student loans and sun setting loan forgiveness. Late on Dec. 12, 2017, the House Education and the Workforce Committee passed the act (HR 4508) by a 23–17 vote. If passed by Congress, it reauthorizes and amends the Higher Education Act (HEA). Institutional aid, student aid, grants, loans, work-study and accreditation are all conducted in accordance with the HEA. Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC) stated her primary goal was to streamline the student aid system by reducing the number of federal loans and grants to one loan and one grant. However, undergraduate and graduate students, their parents, academic faculty and university administrators should be concerned about certain programs that might get eliminated or significantly reduced. Easy ways to advocate: Bookmark ASHA’s Take Action page Subscribe to ASHA Headlines Read relevant articles in the ASHA Leader or the LeaderBlog Foxx indicated she expects the House to take up the bill sometime “next year,” probably in late January or early February. All 23 Republicans voted for the bill, all 17 Democrats voted against it. HEA programs slated for reduction or elimination by the PROSPER Act include: In-school interest subsidies for undergraduate students. The Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program, providing need-based gra...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Advocacy Audiology News Speech-Language Pathology higher education Schools students Source Type: blogs