U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin to Education Department: Stop Profiting Off Student Loans and Fulfill Congressional Directives to Help Struggling Borrowers
In letter to Secretary Duncan: “(I)t is striking that the Department still intends to generate such significant revenue from federal loan programs designed to help young people get an affordable education.”
WASHINGTON, DC —Noting that “(i)t is not the job of the Department of Education to maximize profits for the government at the cost of squeezing students who are struggling to get an education,” U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) joined Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Edward J. Markey (D-MA) in sending a letter asking the U.S. Department of Education to “implement the directives it has been given by Congress to ensure that our most vulnerable young people struggling with the burden of federal student debt have meaningful opportunity to build a strong future for themselves and their families.”
In the letter, the Senators note that recent estimates show the federal government will produce $110 billion in profits from its student loan program over the next decade. “(I)t is striking that the Department still intends to generate such significant revenue from federal loan programs designed to help young people get an affordable education,” they wrote.
The Senators further note that the Higher Education Act requires the Department of Education to discharge loans for students who attend colleges that close their doors, but last year instead “undertook an elaborate plan to use federal funds to bail out the for-profit college chain Corinthian Colleges, Inc. and deprive students” of this option.
A PDF copy of the letter is available here.
In July 2013, Baldwin voted against the “Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act”, which set current student loan rates, because it raised student loan interest rates over the long term and used the profits from this increase to reduce the deficit.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
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