The Agenda to Safeguard Student Borrowers

Whereas, the social and economic health of the country relies on increasing the number of people who complete a college degree, but college budget cuts cause costs to skyrocket.  As the country’s need for college graduates has grown, so has the financial risk students are expected to assume to pay for college; and

Whereas,  the proportion of students graduating with more than $25,000 in student loan debt increased nearly five-fold over the past 12 years.  Such debt can cause graduates to delay buying a home, getting married, or starting a family. The prospect of heavy borrowing for education leads too many qualified students to opt out of college altogether; and,

Whereas, efforts to alleviate student debt, including generous repayment options for federal loans together with significant increases to grant aid, will help.  Nonetheless, the vast majority of college students will have to borrow at a significant level to pay for their college education; and,

Whereas, more needs to be done to protect consumers who are borrowing to pay for college in the new debt-for-diploma era.

Therefore, I/we endorse the following agenda to safeguard student loan borrowers:

1) Standardizing and lowering federal student and parental loan interest rates;

2) Protecting potential borrowers from misleading marketing of private loans and abusive or predatory private lending terms;

3) Instating basic consumer protections for student loan borrowers;

4) Fortifying recourses for aggrieved borrowers to recover funds from their lender(s);

5) Providing loan servicing to borrowers that facilitates clear communication, accuracy, and responsiveness;

6) Requiring publication of complete loan, including default rates, for analysis & consumer protection;

7) Strengthening and clarifying federal loan repayment and forgiveness programs.