Today’s Good News: House Passes College Tuition Relief
The House made good on a promise today and passed a bill with various items related to college tuition relief. The bill doesn’t go far enough, to be sure, but at least it’s a step in the right direction. And it’s being funded by a cut in the subsidies to those f-ing banks that profit so hugely from student loans.
Some highlights of the bill:
- Raises the maximum Pell grant from $4,310 per year to $5,200 per year by 2011.
- Cuts the interest rate on federally subsidized loans for low-income and middle-class students in half, from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent over five years.
- Provides scholarships worth $4,000 a year to college students who agree to teach hard-to-staff subjects, like math, in low-income schools.
- Offers $5,000 in loan forgiveness for college graduates who go into public-service careers.
- Caps annual loan repayments at a percentage of a student’s income.
The bill is attached to a spending bill and similar legislation is pending in the Senate.
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