Last week, I voted in favor of H.R. 5, a bill to make college more affordable and accessible by cutting the interest rate on subsidized student loans for undergraduates in half over the next five years – from 6.8% to 3.4%.

I am a strong supporter of H.R. 5, and a firm believer that Congress needs to act to assist the struggling college students of this nation. The bill that passed the House marks the first step forward in making college more affordable and accessible.

In Florida and around the nation, the price of attending college is practically out of reach for many lower and middle class American families. In fact, tuition at public universities has increased by a shocking 41% since 2001, while tuition at private universities has risen by 17%. At the University of North Florida, the ballooning cost of college has forced students in my district to borrow an average of $16,700 by the time they graduate from UNF, while at the University of Florida in Gainesville; the average stands at over $14,000, a figure which is considered relatively small when compared to schools around the nation.

If passed into law, this bill would provide relief to about 5.5 million students across the nation. For Florida, it would help over 125,000 students at four year institutions, and save them up to $4,300 over the life of their loan.

Yet cutting interest rates on student loans is only the first step the Democratic Party will take this year to make college more affordable. Among other pro student legislation the Democratic Party plans to introduce during this session, we will be introducing a bill later this year to increase the maximum Pell Grant scholarship from $4,050 to $5,100.