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Donald Payne Jr. on Education
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Too many schools are struggling; fight for schools
Education and college accessibility are keys to the future: I have a history of fighting for schools, aiding pre-schools, and creating programs for young people.Even before I entered public service, bettering the lives of young people has been a
passion of mine. If I'm elected, I'll focus on Education and College Accessibility because they are the foundation of our future. Today, too many schools are struggling, and we are burdening our young people with too much debt.
Source: 2012 House campaign website, ngpvanhost.com
, Nov 6, 2012
Sponsored 10/10 Loan Forgiveness: cancel college loans after 10 years.
Payne co-sponsored Student Loan Fairness Act
Congressional Summary:Student Loan Fairness Act:
- Establishes a 10/10 Loan Forgiveness Program that provides forgiveness to borrowers who, have made 120 monthly payments in the previous 10 years.
- Caps the amount of loan forgiveness that the program will provide to individuals, and caps the interest rate on new loans at 3.4%.
- Includes primary care physicians in medically underserved areas in the public service employee loan forgiveness program.
Opponent's argument against bill: (Blog post on voices.yahoo.com, "Why I'm Against the Student Loan Fairness Act"): The two key points to this bill are:
- The 10-10 plan: Where an individual would be required to make ten years of payments at 10% of their discretionary income, after which their remaining federal student loan debt would be forgiven.
- Cap federal interest rates at
3.4% and allowing existing borrowers whose educational loan debt exceeds their income to convert their private loan debt into federal Direct Loans.
Sounds enticing enough. They make a convincing argument that convinced over 200,000 people to sign their petition, many of whom shared their personal stories of student debt and how this act would change their lives. I disagree with all of them.- First, there is already student loan forgiveness act that erases your loans after 20 years. It is called Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act.
- Many people who signed the petition argued that the government bailed out the banks, so why not us? The main difference [with TARP is that] most banks paid back the loans from TARP [while student loan forgiveness will make] $1 trillion magically disappear.
- If the average college graduate is 22 years old, then we are talking about being debt free by 32. That is a risk I see many young college students willing to take.
Source: H.R.1330 13-H1330 on Mar 21, 2013
Page last updated: Jan 27, 2017