What would it take to solve the student debt crisis?
ANNA HELHOSKI of NerdWallet
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The possibility of federal student loan forgiveness grabs all the headlines. But experts say no single policy not even wiping the slate clean for millions of borrowers solves the root causes of the nation’s $1.74 trillion student loan debt crisis.
That debt has been fueled by decades of wages not keeping up with the rising cost of college. And unless wages increase and college costs decrease, students will still need to take on debt to complete degrees, and they’ll face greater difficulty repaying loans.
POLITICO
Red states ready to defy Biden’s ‘aggressive indoctrination’ on education
Republicans in states like Wisconsin, Florida and Alabama are already signaling that they would put up a fight against Biden’s expansive social welfare proposal.
President Joe Biden gestures as he talks to students during a visit to Yorktown Elementary School, in Yorktown, Va., as first lady Jill Biden watches. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo
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Red-state Republicans are looking to seize what could be their first opportunity to take down one of President Joe Biden’s most ambitious plans: Opposing the implementation of his proposed expansion of education.
The bills would provide clearer information about college finances to students, beginning with their search of prospective schools and continuing until they graduate. Congress has already made part of the financial aid process easier by passing legislation in December that will simplify the Free Application for Federal Student Aid from 108 to 36 questions.
“All of this is critically important to get clear information to students at different points on their financial aid trajectory through their postsecondary experience,” said Laura Keane, chief policy officer at uAspire, a nonprofit that advises about 10,000 students per year on how to pay for college.
That begins with the Net Price Calculator Improvement Act, which would make online net price calculators more user-friendly and accessible, allowing students to understand the net price of attending different colleges before deciding where to apply.
Credit: University of California
The University of California Student Association (UCSA) and leading advocates from across the country are holding a webinar to organize efforts around their campaign urging Congress to double the Pell Grant. The 10:00 am PDT one-hour event on Monday, May 3, will provide students with an overview of the campaign along with advocacy tips, actions and resources to help further this student-led grassroots effort for more financial aid support to help students across the country.
UC leaders and students have joined their peers from across the country to advocate for an increase in the Pell Grant, which is the primary source of federal aid for low-income college students. The maximum Pell Grant award for the 2021-22 award year is $6,495 and advocates are asking Congress to effectively double it to $13,000.
The plan has the support of the American Association of Community Colleges, which has been advocating for tuition-free community college for several years, said David Baime, senior vice president for government relations and policy analysis for AACC.
“We think that the proposal will have a dramatic positive impact on the ability of students to successfully participate in community college education,” Baime said.
The additional funding for HBCUs and MSIs was praised by National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education president and CEO Lezli Baskerville, who called the proposed investments transformational. [The investments are] sorely needed to ensure that HBCUs, predominantly Black institutions and other postsecondary institutions that educate disproportionate percentages of persons of least advantage are prepared, inspired and supported into and through college graduation, Baskerville said.