Building on President Joe Biden’s student debt cancellation plan, House Democrats on Thursday proposed new legislation that would increase federal student aid, lower interest rates on loans and take other steps to make college more affordable.
Much of the proposal focuses on expanding federal Pell Grants, which are given to low-income students but have failed to keep pace with inflation and tuition rates. When the Pell program was started in the 1970s, the grants covered nearly 80% of tuition, fees and housing at a typical public university, according to federal data. Today, they cover about a quarter of those costs.
The proposal would allow public workers to get their debt canceled after making 96 monthly payments, down from 120, and it would allow certain periods of non-payment to count, including military service or time in the Peace Corps. The Education Department recently loosened some rules during the pandemic, but the changes are set to expire at the end of October.
The Republican legislation would eliminate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program entirely, and allow students to borrow no more than $100,000 in federal student debt for graduate school, down from an existing $138,500 cap. Additionally, it would allow students to use Pell Grants for short-term programs that focus on job training.
Although the broad details of the plan have been available for weeks, many with student debt have been left to wonder about exactly how it will be carried out.
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