College tuition

Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008

hmoroz — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:56:11 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Percentage of dependent Pell Grant recipients whose family income is less than $20,000: 40

Percentage of tuition and fees (including room and board) at public four-year colleges that was covered by the maximum Pell Grant in the 1986-1987 school year: 52

Percentage of tuition and fees (including room and board) at public four-year colleges that was covered by the maximum Pell Grant in the 2006-2007 school year: 32

Amount that the average college student pays for textbooks each year: $900

Average number of hours that the Brookings Institution estimates an applicant needs to complete the FAFSA: 10

Number of hours a year spent filling out financial aid forms: 100 million

Equivalent in full-time jobs: 55,000

Number of students who have not received financial aid due to drug convictions since the provision went into effect in 2000: 200,000

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Middle Class Supports. Although a college education is increasingly a prerequisite for a middle-class standard of living, current and aspiring middle-class students and their families are struggling more than ever to afford college. Indeed, in recent years the maximum Pell Grant, designed to provide financially strapped students with an opportunity to attend college, has failed to keep pace with rising higher education costs. 2007’s College Cost Reduction and Access Act, which increased the maximum Pell Grant and limited federal subsidies to student lenders in order to increase college financial aid by $20 billion, was a necessary first step in making college more affordable. The Higher Education Opportunity Act’s additional increase of the maximum Pell grant will make college accessible to more aspiring middle-class Americans. Additionally, the expansion of the Pell Grant program to include year-round education supports the hardest-working students struggling to complete their educations quickly. Continued commitment to the TRIO and GEAR UP programs is critical to ensuring that first generation and at-risk students are able to obtain a college education and achieve a middle-class standard of living.

Skyrocketing tuition costs and large and confusing debt obligations can make college unaffordable and financial stability after college difficult. Indeed, the College Board reports that average tuition and fees at four-year public institutions have increased 51% over the last five years and that private undergraduate loans have grown from 3% to 12% of the funds used to finance postsecondary education since the 1996-1997 school year . The Higher Education Opportunity Act improves a student loan system that has been characterized by favoritism and murky lending practices. The Act will help put an end to the most egregious conflicts of interest and will expand and simplify the information that is available to students and their families when deciding what colleges to attend and what loans to take out. Ending such conflicts of interest will ensure that students receive the most affordable loans, not loans that are the favorites of an unethical financial aid officer. A simplified application form for federal student aid will ensure that students are not dissuaded from seeking financial assistance for higher education because of complex paperwork. Stricter reporting requirements for institutions that that fail to rein in tuition hikes are a positive step in influencing institutions of higher education to make college more affordable. Efforts to reduce the cost of textbooks will also be helpful to students struggling with high costs.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

Higher Education Project, from U.S. Public Interest Research Group

Window of Opportunity: Targeting Federal Grant Aid to Students with the Lowest Incomes, from the Institute for Higher Education Policy

Trends in College Pricing 2007, from the College Board

Amendment to the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2008

hmoroz — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:23:04 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Approximate total award that service members can currently receive toward their education, in dollars: 39,600

Average total charges, including tuition and fees and room and board, for four years at an in-state public college or university in 2007, in dollars: 54,356

Estimated percentage of the unemployed who will be unemployed for longer than six months by the end of 2009, according to the Economic Policy Institute: 20.8

Number of states with an unemployment rate greater than 6.0% as of April 2008, including Washington D.C.: 5

Amount of stimulus produced for every $1 spent on extending emergency federal unemployment insurance benefits, in dollars: 1.64

Unemployment rate in Michigan in April 2008: 6.9%

Minimum estimated cost of the Iraq War paid by Michigan as of May 2008, in dollars: 13 billion

Estimated 10-year cost of extending unemployment insurance benefits, in dollars: 11.1 billion

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

The Middle Class Supports. The American economy remains at risk of recession and the employment picture is dim. In the first four months of 2008, the American economy lost 260,000 jobs and 400,000 workers were classified as “discouraged,” wanting work but believing that no jobs were available for them. Unemployment benefits provide direct assistance to the current and aspiring middle-class Americans likely to be hardest hit during the economic downturn. Moreover, the unemployed are most likely to spend their unemployment benefits immediately, providing an economic jolt that will enhance the stimulus generated by the tax rebates sent out earlier this year. Indeed, extension of unemployment benefits provides $1.64 in stimulus for every dollar spent, making the policy one of the most effective stimulus measures.

The “New GI Bill” measures are also important. Our nation owes those young people who have volunteered to fight for the United States a fair opportunity to enter the middle class. After World War II, the education and other benefits of the GI Bill allowed unprecedented numbers of returning soldiers to access a middle-class standard of living, but today’s GI Bill, intended for peacetime, does not provide adequate benefits. This amendment would change that. Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars face not only the challenges of readjustment to civilian life, frequently complicated by injury or mental illness, but the rising cost of higher education impacting middle-class Americans across the United States. The current GI bill covers only 60-70% of the cost of tuition at a four-year public university and less than two years at a private college. The Amendment to the supplemental appropriations bill would permit the equivalent of full scholarships to public institutions of higher learning to any service member who completed three years of service.

Imposing a moratorium on Administration-proposed Medicaid regulations will ensure continued health care access for aspiring middle-class beneficiaries and prevent a devastating loss of funding to states, public hospitals, and local schools already struggling during the economic downturn.

The provisions that increase accountability and transparency in federal contracting are welcome, but are not as comprehensive as those included in the Accountability in Contracting Act, passed by the House last year.

The Senate version contains welcome funding for programs that benefit aspiring middle-class and middle-class Americans.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

"Making the Case - Again - for Economic Rebound," from the Economic Policy Institute

Unemployment Insurance and the Stimulus Debate, from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities

"A New GI Bill," from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008

hmoroz — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:36:42 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Minimum number of student lenders in the Federal Family Education Loan Program: 2,000

Percentage growth in undergraduate federal borrowing between 1996-1997 and 2006-2007 school years: 51

Percentage increase in the number of undergraduate subsidized Stafford loan borrowers between the 1996-1997 and 2006-2007 school years who do not have to pay interest on their loans while attending school: 47

Percentage increase in the number of undergraduate unsubsidized Stafford loan borrowers between the 1996-1997 and 2006-2007 school years who must pay interest on their loans while attending school: 113

Percentage of total funds used to finance postsecondary education composed by private loans in the 1996-1997 school year: 3

Percentage of total funds used to finance postsecondary education composed by private loans in the 2006-2007 school year: 12

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

The Middle Class Supports. With 66% of students at four-year colleges holding student loan debt, the credit crunch has generated concerns that aspiring middle-class and middle-class college students and their parents will be unable to obtain the loans they rely on to afford college. Federally backed student loans, which are cheaper than private student loans, provide these students with a financial gateway to higher education. Increasing the amount of Stafford loans that students are able to borrow would help students cope with tuition costs that they would otherwise have to fund with more expensive private loans. The delay in PLUS loan repayment authorized by the bill, along with the exemptions for delinquency on mortgage and medical bill payment, recognize that the declining economy in general, and the collapsing housing market and rising health care costs in particular, are squeezing many middle-class American families. In conjunction with the act’s other provisions, the authorizations of funding for lenders-of-last-resort and for purchases of student loans by the government minimizes the risk that the marketplace for federally backed student loans will collapse.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

Trends in Student Aid, from College Board

"House Panel Addresses the Would-Be Student Loan Crisis", from Inside Higher Education

Student Aid on the Web, from the Department of Education

College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2008

hmoroz — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:23:44 -0500

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Ratio of students at four-year colleges and universities with student loan debt by the time they graduated in 2004: 2/3

Percentage increase in the average student loan debt for graduating seniors from 2005 to 2006: 8

Percentage increase in starting salary offers for graduating seniors from 2005 to 2006: 4

Percentage of tuition and fees (including room and board) at public four-year colleges that was covered by the maximum Pell Grant in the 1986-1987 school year: 52

Percentage of tuition and fees (including room and board) at public four-year colleges that was covered by the maximum Pell Grant in the 2006-2007 school year: 32

Amount that the average college student pays for textbooks each year: $900

Number of students who have not received financial aid due to drug convictions since the provision went into effect in 2000: 200,000

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Middle Class Supports. Although a college education is increasingly a prerequisite for a middle-class standard of living, aspiring middle-class and middle-class students are struggling more than ever to afford college. Indeed, in recent years the maximum Pell Grant, designed to provide financially strapped students with an opportunity to attend college, has failed to keep pace with rising higher education costs. 2007’s College Cost Reduction and Access Act, which increased the maximum Pell Grant and limited federal subsidies to student lenders in order to increase college financial aid by $20 billion, was a necessary first step in making college more affordable. The College Opportunity and Affordability Act’s additional increase of the maximum Pell grant will make college accessible to more aspiring middle-class Americans. Additionally, the expansion of the Pell Grant program to include year-round education supports the hardest-working students struggling to complete their educations quickly. Continued commitment to the TRIO and GEAR UP programs is critical to ensuring that first generation and at-risk students are able to obtain a college education and achieve a middle-class standard of living.

Furthermore, skyrocketing tuition costs and large and confusing debt obligations can make college impractical and financial stability after college difficult. Indeed, the College Board reports that average tuition and fees at four-year public institutions have increased 51% over the last five years and that private undergraduate loans have grown from 3% to 12% of the funds used to finance postsecondary education since the 1996-1997 school year . The College Opportunity and Affordability Act improves a private student loan system that has been characterized by favoritism and murky lending practices. The Act will not only put an end to the most egregious conflicts of interest, but will expand and simplify the information that is available to students and their families when deciding what loans are best. Ending such practices will ensure that students receive the most affordable loans, not loans that are the favorites of an unethical financial aid officer. A simplified application form for federal student aid will ensure that students are not dissuaded from seeking financial assistance for higher education because of complex paperwork. Publication of the tuitions of institutions that fail to rein in tuition hikes and the threatened reduction of federal aid if tuition increases are not contained are effective means to influence institutions of higher education to make college more affordable. Efforts to reduce the cost of textbooks will also be helpful to students struggling with high costs.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

Trends in College Pricing 2007, from the College Board

Paying Back, Not Giving Back: Student Debt’s Negative Impact on Public Service Career Opportunities, from U.S. PIRG

Student Debt and the Class of 2006, from The Project on Student Debt

Temporary Tax Relief Act of 2007

hmoroz — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 11:47:23 -0500

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Number of taxpayers affected by the AMT in 2006, with the exemption that is extended in this legislation: 3.5 million

Number of taxpayers who will be affected by the AMT in 2007 if this legislation is not enacted into law: 23.4 million

Average compensation paid to the 25 individual hedge-fund managers with the highest earnings in 2006: $570,000,000

Approximate loss of revenue to the U.S. Treasury in 2006 alone from taxing the carried interest of these 25 fund managers as capital gains: $1,995,000,000

Amount that the IRS estimates it will spend in startup and ongoing maintenance costs through FY2007 for the private collection agency program: $71 million

Revenue the IRS estimates it would generate if it applied this $71 million to its own IRS Automated Collection System: $1.4 billion

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

The Middle Class Supports. The Temporary Tax Relief Act of 2007 ensures that middle-class Americans are not overwhelmed by a tax that they were never intended to pay. An increase of approximately $3,000 in tax payments for more than 20 million American homes would be disastrous for families already reeling from home foreclosures, high gas prices, and nearly stagnant wages. The bill’s tax credit increases and extensions, including credits for college tuition and for improving public schools in economically distressed areas, benefit current and aspiring middle-class families. The legislation also spares families who have lost their homes to foreclosure from large income tax bills that would result from their mortgage debts being voided. This provision provides relief for households engulfed by the housing crisis that would otherwise be subject to large tax bills even after losing their homes. The bill’s revenue-raising tax hikes target the appropriate group: extraordinarily wealthy hedge fund and private equity managers who have exploited loopholes in the tax code to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

Finally, the Tax Relief Act’s prohibition of debt-collection contracts between the IRS and private companies, a ban suggested by the IRS’s taxpayer advocate, will put a stop to the harassment of lower- and middle-income taxpayers that resulted from the unaccountable, inefficient, and expensive outsourcing of a public function to the private sector.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

House AMT “Patch” Bill Is Fiscally Responsible from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Tax Topics: Individual Alternative Minimum Tax from the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center

The Taxation of Carried Interest, Testimony before the Finance Committee of the U.S. Senate

Nina Olson, National Taxpayer Advocate, Statement on the IRS’s private debt collection inititative

Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act of 2007

atraub — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 16:20:17 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Estimated percentage of undocumented high school graduates who currently attend college: 10

Difference between the amount of taxes paid annually by the typical 30-year-old Mexican immigrant woman with a college degree and amount paid by a similar high school drop-out: $5,300

Difference in the amount of expense this college-educated woman will cost the government compared to her high school drop-out counterpart: -$3,900

Number of young people between the ages of 5 and 17 who would have an incentive to complete high school and pursue college or military service as a result of this legislation: 715,000

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

The Middle Class Supports: The DREAM Act would enable students who immigrated to the U.S. as children to further their education, get better jobs, and, as a result, pay more in taxes, contributing more to the economic prosperity necessary to sustain a strong middle class. Fulfilling their potential, they may be the nation’s future innovators and entrepreneurs and will make up part of the educated workforce needed to help the U.S. compete in the global economy. The students who would be impacted by the legislation grew up in this country, attended U.S. schools, speak English, and consider themselves Americans – many cannot remember living anywhere else. An unsatisfactory alternative to the DREAM Act is that these talented young people might never achieve their potential, but will instead be marginalized by their lack of legal status in the country they grew up in, and will continue to live in the shadows, working low-paid jobs off the books and contributing far less to the U.S. and its national prosperity than they might have. America does not benefit when young people eager to offer their skills and talents are punished for the decisions made by their parents.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

The Immigrant Student Adjustment / DREAM Act page from The National Immigration Law Center

“Wasted Talent and Broken Dreams: The Lost Potential of Undocumented Students” by Roberto G. Gonzales for the Immigration Policy Center

Dream Act page from the National Council of La Raza

College Cost Reduction Act of 2007

atraub — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 17:58:22 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Total amount the average four-year college student with a subsidized Stafford loan would save under this bill if they start school in 2011, when the cut is fully phased in: $4,420

Percentage of college graduates under age 35 that are paying off college debt who say their loans will take them more than ten years to pay off: 39

Percentage of them who say they have delayed a medical or dental procedure because of their debts: 27

Proportion who say their college loan debts have caused them to delay getting married: 1 in 6

Price that private investors paid in 2007 to purchase Sallie Mae, the student loan company which began as an enterprise run by the government for the benefit of college students: $25 billion

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

The Middle Class Supports. In today’s world, a college education is necessary to attain a middle-class standard of living. A college-educated workforce is also critical to the nation’s economic strength. Yet the cost of college, and the amount of debt students must take on to afford it, is rising rapidly. The value of federal student aid programs, such as Pell Grants, has failed to keep pace with rising college costs, while many states have reduced their support for public universities. As a result, nearly two thirds of students at four-year colleges must now borrow to finance their college education, and the typical student borrower now graduates with nearly $20,000 in debt – and some with much more. The prospect of taking on tens of thousands of dollars in debt deters some students, especially those from lower-income families, from pursuing college entirely. Meanwhile, the need to pay off costly student loans makes it impractical for many graduates to pursue public service careers in essential fields such as teaching or social work. For many young people, the burden of student loan debt makes it difficult to make ends meet on a daily basis, much less support a family or begin to save for retirement. Through its wide array of measures to make a college education more affordable – including the groundbreaking effort to encourage colleges not to raise tuition, while prodding states to strengthen their investment in higher education – this bill will help millions of American young people attend college and begin their working lives without such an overwhelming burden of debt.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

The Project on Student Debt, a project of the Institute for College Access and Success

Student Debt Alert, a project of the Student Public Interest Research Groups

“Higher and Higher Education: Trends in College Access, Affordability, and Debt,” from Demos

Pell Grant Amendment of 2004

atraub — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 15:41:25 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Proportion of American college students who receive Pell Grants: 3 in 10
Percentage of public four-year college costs covered by the maximum Pell Grant in 1976: 84
Percentage of public four-year college costs covered by the maximum Pell Grant today: 39
Amount by which the Pell grant was last increased three years ago: $50
Number of Americans who are worried about the cost of college: 3 out of 4
Percentage of Americans who would be willing to pay higher taxes to increase financial support for college students: 66

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

The Middle Class Supports. A college education is an integral part of the American Dream. On average, college graduates earn 73 percent more over the course of their working lives than those with only a high school diploma. These benefits go far beyond the individual: the median college graduate contributes 44% more in annual tax revenues than the median high school graduate.

Pell Grants are the most widely-used federal college assistance program, serving 4.8 million Americans. Historically, Pell Grants provided an opportunity for students from low-income families to join the middle class, with the nation as a whole reaping the benefits of the higher tax payments, lower reliance on the publicly-funded safety net, lower incarceration rates, and increased civic participation of college graduates. Yet the maximum Pell Grant was last increased three years ago, and then it only went up by $50. In 2004, the average tuition and fees at a public four-year college was $5,132—an increase of 10.5 percent over the previous year. To pay for these increased costs, college students and their parents too often resort to taking on unsustainable amounts of debt.

College tuition

Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

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Additional Resources

Amendment to the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2008

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

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Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources

Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources

College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2008

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources

Temporary Tax Relief Act of 2007

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources

Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act of 2007

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources

College Cost Reduction Act of 2007