[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 62 (Thursday, April 29, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S2805]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SPECTER:
  S. 3281. A bill to expand student loan forgiveness, to provide loan 
repayment assistance, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I seek recognition today to introduce an 
important piece of legislation entitled the Student Loan Forgiveness 
and Repayment Assistance Act of 2010.
  This legislation is in response to the increasingly high cost of 
postsecondary education, an important issue that I recently discussed 
with Pennsylvania students. During this conversation I discussed the 
need for what I called an ``education bill of rights'' and today I am 
introducing a practical approach to increasing the accessibility and 
affordability of higher education.
  On March 30, 2010, the President signed into law the Student Aid and 
Fiscal Responsibility Act, AFRA, as part of the healthcare and 
education reconciliation bill, which I am proud to have supported in 
the Senate. This historic legislation made an important investment in 
higher education, including: $36 billion to fund and strengthen the 
Pell Grant program, $2.55 billion to support Historically Black 
Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions, $1.5 
billion to strengthen the Income Based Repayment, IBR, plan as well as 
several other student financial assistance and deficit reduction 
provisions.
  These actions were an important first step, but we must do more. 
According to Campus Progress--the total federal student debt is more 
than $617 million; the average student today graduates college with 
student debt 25 percent higher than that of college graduates a decade 
ago; the average college senior graduated with $4,100 in credit card 
debt and $23,200 in student loans; almost 7 in 10 college graduates are 
burdened with educational debt; student debt is outpacing the starting 
salaries of jobs in teaching and social work; 38 percent of graduates 
delay buying their first house because of debt, 14 percent marriage, 
and 21 percent delay having children; and over 60 percent of minorities 
face a gap between their expected family contributions, grants and 
loans and the cost of their education. These troublesome statistics 
underscore the need for further action.
  I strongly feel that education is our Nation's greatest capital 
investment. The legislation that I am introducing today reinforces this 
belief and helps us make several smart investments in our Nation's 
future. We must improve accessibility to higher education, and the key 
to accessibility is affordability. For these reasons, the Student Loan 
Forgiveness and Repayment Assistance Act of 2010 will focus on 5 key 
initiatives which help make prudent and targeted investments in higher 
education.
  First, my bill will strengthen the IBR plan. The IBR plan is an 
important tool that helps borrowers afford their monthly student loan 
payments by capping a borrower's monthly payment based on his/her 
income and family size. Currently the IBR plan caps monthly payments at 
15 percent of a borrower's discretionary income. SAFRA lowered the 
percentage to 10 percent starting in 2014, which will allow more 
borrowers to take advantage of this helpful plan. I propose to further 
reduce the percentage to 7 percent, thereby allowing more students to 
participate in the IBR plan. In addition to capping monthly payments, a 
borrower's remaining debt will be forgiven after 20 years of making 
qualified monthly payments. SAFRA reduced this threshold by 5 years 
from the original 25 year requirement. My legislation will further 
reduce the number of years that a borrower must make his/her payments 
before debt is forgiven to 15 years.

  Second, the bill I am introducing will enhance the Public Service 
Loan Forgiveness Program. This program, which was created in 2007 by 
the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, discharges remaining student 
loan debt if the borrower is employed in public service for 10 years. 
This program not only provides important loan forgiveness, but it 
encourages essential public service. My legislation proposes to make 
the benefits of this program more generous and encourage greater public 
service participation. My bill would reduce the number of years, from 
10 to 5 that a borrower must work in the public sector before being 
able to take advantage of this program. After the 5th year, a 
percentage of the borrower's debt will be incrementally forgiven each 
year, up until after the 10th year of public service when all remaining 
debt will be forgiven.
  Third, my legislation will expand the student loan programs or health 
professions, primary care, and nursing by reducing the interest rate to 
3.5 percent. My bill will also expand the health professions student 
loan program to include physician's assistants. Health care reform's 
embrace of some 32 million previously uninsured Americans has created a 
need for additional doctors and nurses. Ways must be found to make 
medical education more affordable and accompanying debt burdens less 
onerous. I believe my bill helps achieve this goal.
  Fourth, my bill will enhance opportunities for minorities by creating 
a new pilot program administered by the U.S. Department of Education, 
which will provide funding opportunities for minority serving 
institutions. This program will provide grants on a competitive basis 
to eligible institutions based on a college's plan to increase 
enrollment and graduation rates without increasing costs to students. 
My legislation authorizes $100 million annually for this purpose, for 5 
years.
  Fifth and lastly, my legislation will establish an Assistant 
Secretary position to evaluate and promote accessibility and 
affordability in higher education. It is important that we have a 
person who can not only evaluate the efficacy of the programs that I 
have discussed and to make recommendations to Congress on how to 
improve them, but also to help make prospective students aware of how 
they can gain access to, and afford a higher education. As I said 
earlier, education is our greatest capital investment, and I believe 
that the Student Loan Forgiveness and Repayment Assistance Act of 2010 
will help our nation make a smart investment in our future.
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