3.0.0 1948 2023-01-11T13:29:58Z 2023-01-11T13:29:58Z Senate S 2015-08-05 114 sshr00 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Senate Standing Referred to 2015-08-05T16:16:57Z 2015-08-05 sshr00 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Senate Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. IntroReferral 2015-08-05 Introduced in Senate IntroReferral 10000 9 Library of Congress M001176 Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR] Jeff Merkley D OR N W000779 Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR] Ron Wyden D OR 2015-08-06 False Education Administrative law and regulatory procedures Department of Education Education of the disadvantaged Education programs funding Higher education Interest, dividends, interest rates Student aid and college costs Education 00 2015-08-05 Introduced in Senate 2016-10-03T21:04:34Z Access to Fair Financial Options for Repaying Debt Act of 2015 or the AFFORD Act

This bill terminates existing federal student loan repayment plan options for borrowers of federal Direct Loan (DL) program loans issued on or after July 1, 2016.

It amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish two new repayment plan options.

First, the bill creates a new version of the income-based repayment (IBR) plan that includes capping monthly payments at 10% of discretionary income, setting a 20-year maximum repayment period, broadening eligible borrowers to include borrowers without a partial financial hardship, and expanding qualifying loans to include parent PLUS loans and consolidation loans that repay parent PLUS loans.

Second, it establishes a fixed repayment plan in which an enrolled borrower makes fixed monthly payments over a maximum repayment period of 10, 15, 20, or 25 years depending on the total federal loan balance at repayment.

A borrower of a DL program loan issued on or after July 1, 2016, must enroll in the new IBR or fixed repayment plan. A borrower repaying a DL or Federal Family Education Loan program loan issued before July 1, 2016, may retain enrollment in the existing repayment plan or elect to enroll in the new IBR or fixed repayment plan.

This bill requires an institution of higher education that participates in federal student aid programs to: (1) provide, as part of entrance counseling, information on the new IBR and fixed repayment plan options; (2) offer voluntary annual loan counseling to each enrolled student who is known to have one or more student loans; and (3) explain, during exit counseling, a borrower's options to prepay a loan, accelerate a payment schedule, and change a repayment plan.

]]> AFFORD Act Display Title AFFORD Act Official Title as Introduced A bill to increase awareness of the Federal student loan income-based repayment plan, and for other purposes. Introduced in Senate IS Short Titles as Introduced AFFORD Act Short Titles as Introduced Access to Fair Financial Options for Repaying Debt Act of 2015 Introduced in Senate 2015-08-05T04:00:00Z https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-114s1948is/xml/BILLS-114s1948is.xml 2015-08-05 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries and statuses for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.