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WASHINGTON - Congressman Tom Petri received a warm welcome and an award March 22 at a legislative conference hosted by the United States Student Association (USSA), the country's oldest and largest student organization.
USSA Legislative Director Angela Peoples introduced Petri as "a longtime supporter of the Direct Loan program and for eliminating the bank subsidies under the FFEL (Federal Family Education Loan) program. He is being recognized as an Education Advocate of the Year because of his outstanding efforts to support the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act."
The student aid bill, now nearing final adoption in the Senate, will close down the FFEL student loan program in favor of the more efficient Direct Loan program - a change which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has concluded will save tens of billions of dollars for other student aid programs and for deficit reduction.
Petri told the conference that his work in favor of ending subsidies and loan guarantees for private lenders, and instead having the Education Department provide loans directly, began in 1979 when a conversation with a financial aid expert in Wisconsin set him on the path of reform.
"It means a great deal for me," Petri said of the impending strengthening of the Direct Loan program through the elimination of the FFEL program. "That is really, for me, the culmination of a long journey."
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