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The difficulties of student loan repayment have been an integral part of the dialogue surrounding paying for school in recent years. College graduates began slipping under payments long before the recession, but the tough economic times only exacerbated the struggle, making it more of a common occurrence than an anomaly. Fortunately, the economy is healthier; however, the state of student loan debt remains much the same.
On March 10, President Obama announced to a crowd of students at Georgia Tech University that he was going to fight for more transparency in student loan repayment and management. His announcement was the basis for the Student Aid Bill of Rights, which he signed into memorandum for the Department of Education and other federal agencies, according to the White House.
The Student Aid Bill of Rights is as follows:
I. Every student deserves access to a quality, affordable education at a college that’s cutting costs and increasing learning.
II. Every student should be able to access the resources needed to pay for college.
III. Every borrower has the right to an affordable repayment plan.
IV. And every borrower has the right to quality customer service, reliable information, and fair treatment, even if they struggle to repay their loans.
The federal government will implement these principles through several practices across different agencies and programs. First, the Secretary of Education will create a web site by July 1, 2016, for borrowers to file complaints about federal loan lenders, servicers, collection agencies and institutions of higher education, guaranteeing that students and graduates will have the ear of the federal government for all issues concerning student loan debt, as stated by the White House.
The Student Aid Bill of Rights also calls for greater leniency, debt repayment strategies and help for those borrowers struggling to make payments. Various agencies in the government will begin monitoring student loan debt and repayment in order to provide feedback, trends and best practices for borrowers as they continue to pay down their debt. Finally, using the data from these new policies, the White House and other departments will provide legislative recommendations to help accommodate borrowers in situations like bankruptcy.
While the Student Aid Bill of Rights is meant to help college graduates manage their student loan debt, there are plenty of critics to this move by the President. An opinion piece on Forbes states that the memorandum will do nothing to help with college costs; rather, it will just shift the problem of rising college costs to other entities.
Regardless, the Student Aid Bill of Rights has been put into motion, and only time will yield the impact.
What are your thoughts on the Student Aid Bill of Rights? Will it make a difference in the lives of student borrowers?
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