Congress Approves Bill That Will Help More Students Access and Afford College

Congressman Rub

In 1944, the GI bill opened college campuses to returning veterans. Rich, poor, black, Hispanic all had a shot at the American Dream of a college education. This bill provides another opportunity to make sure that America becomes smarter, stronger and richer as a result of an egalitarian investment in education.

The bill is comprised of a package of investments to expand higher education opportunities. It guarantees a minimum increase of $1,090 in the maximum Pell grant over the next five years -- reversing the last five years of stagnant funding -- and would benefit more than 6 million low- and moderate-income students nationwide. More than 400,000 of these students reside in Texas.

To reduce the cost of loans for student borrowers, the bill cuts interest rates in half from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent over four years.

The bill also contains a landmark provision that commits $200 million in grants over the next two years to HSIs, which enroll almost half of all Hispanic college students. Overall, the bill increases funding by $510 million over two years for minority-serving intuitions.

"I am particularly proud of our work to strengthen the institutions that are the gateways of access to higher education for minority students," said Hinojosa. "Close to half of our public school children are racial or ethnic minorities - one in five is Hispanic. It is clear that minority serving institutions will only grow in importance, and this initiative will ensure that our nation has enough college graduates to fuel our knowledge-based economy."

The College Cost Reduction and Access Act also includes a number of other provisions that will ease the financial burden imposed on American families by the cost of college, including the following:

Posted by dreynold at October 10, 2007 11:27 AM | TrackBack