Brian Levine, the deputy domestic policy adviser to the vice president, blogged this week that the administration wants to limit student debt to 10 percent of income, with loan forgiveness for those who have paid regularly for 20 years.
People who enter public service would have a shorter timeline to loan forgiveness; only 10 years. College costs have increased in the United States over the past 25 years. According to the College Board, tuition and room and board went up from 4.1 percent to 7.3 percent in 2008-2009.
There were increases for every type of higher education, with the sharpest percentage rise for public two year schools. The greatest dollar increase was for private masters and doctorate granting institutions.
The proposed changes in federal student loan policies are part of President Obama’s agenda for a strong middle class, according to Levine’s posting on the official White House blog. The president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund, UNCF, Michael Lomax, hailed the idea.
According to the blog Lomax said the change “will decrease the loan payments of hundreds of thousands of low-income borrowers with significant student loan debt, lightening the load of many Americans and enabling them to get the education they need, and our nation needs them to have.”
The administration started an Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plan for student loans last summer, which limited the percentage of income which could go to repaying federal student loans.
People who enter public service would have a shorter timeline to loan forgiveness; only 10 years. College costs have increased in the United States over the past 25 years. According to the College Board, tuition and room and board went up from 4.1 percent to 7.3 percent in 2008-2009.
There were increases for every type of higher education, with the sharpest percentage rise for public two year schools. The greatest dollar increase was for private masters and doctorate granting institutions.
The proposed changes in federal student loan policies are part of President Obama’s agenda for a strong middle class, according to Levine’s posting on the official White House blog. The president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund, UNCF, Michael Lomax, hailed the idea.
According to the blog Lomax said the change “will decrease the loan payments of hundreds of thousands of low-income borrowers with significant student loan debt, lightening the load of many Americans and enabling them to get the education they need, and our nation needs them to have.”
The administration started an Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plan for student loans last summer, which limited the percentage of income which could go to repaying federal student loans.
