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Washington, DC--Earlier this year at Portland State University, Congressman David Wu announced his legislative package designed to provide common sense solutions to the problems facing students pursuing higher education. Today Congressman Wu succeeded in amending H.R. 609, the College Access and Opportunity Act of 2005, to include several of his higher education priorities. H.R. 609 amends and reauthorizes higher education programs receiving federal dollars. It was marked up today in the Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness.
Congressman Wu won the support of the subcommittee for three parts of his higher education legislative package. His successes today mean more students will pursue teaching degrees, graduates burdened with loans will save money, and cash-strapped students will receive their full financial aid checks at the beginning of the term.
Congressman Wu's dual degree amendment mirrors a new program Oregon State University began to encourage more students to pursue teaching degrees. The program allows students to earn two bachelor's degrees at the same time, one in their chosen field and the other in education. When the bill is enacted, schools around the country will be able to use federal dollars from teacher recruitment grants to establish similar dual degree programs. Congressman Wu believes these programs will attract a broader population of teacher candidates and directly address teacher recruitment needs for more secondary science, mathematics and technology teachers.
Just as families have saved money when refinancing their home mortgages, graduates will be able to consolidate their student loans with the lender of their choice, taking advantage of competitive interest rates and loan terms. H.R. 609 includes a core provision of Congressman Wu's Student Loan Fairness Act which repeals current law denying graduates with loans from a single lender the right to seek out the lowest cost consolidation loan.
Additionally, colleges, such as Portland State University, with lending practices deemed to have a low loan default rate will have the flexibility to offer students access to their full loan amount to purchase books, supplies, housing deposits and other educational startup expenses. The subcommittee adopted H.R. 1032, Congressman Wu's Paperwork Reduction and Flexibility Act that allows these low default rate colleges and universities the flexibility to disburse the entire amount of a student loan to first time borrowers in a single payment and waive a burdensome 30-day withholding requirement. Currently students often have to unfairly finance the first few months of college startup expenses using other lines of credit such as unsecured loans or credit cards that typically have higher interest rates than student loans.
Congressman Wu also announced today that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) will soon release a report on the cost of college textbooks. At Congressman Wu's request last year, the GAO began investigating the drastic rise in the price of textbooks and the business practices of the publishing industry. Should the report highlight areas in need of reform, Congressman Wu will pursue legislation. Legislation would likely fall under the jurisdiction of another committee and not be addressed in the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.
Congressman Wu's legislative successes today were the first of two opportunities to amend the Higher Education Act. Congressman Wu will have another opportunity next week to offer additional pieces of his higher education legislative package to H.R. 609 in a markup to be held by the full House Committee on Education and the Workforce. The markup is expected to be scheduled during the week of July 18th.
Interested parties can view a live webcast of the hearing at the following link:
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