jo-ann.moriarty @newhouse.comWASHINGTON - For Crystal N.
Baxley, a student at the University of
Massachusetts-Amherst, the signing of the College Cost
Reduction Act by President Bush this week signalled the
completion of lobbying efforts by students and the promise
that college costs will become less burdensome.
Baxley, an intern with the Massachusetts Public Interest
Research Group, is a sophomore studying social thought and
political economy who joined an effort on the campus to see
legislation written by U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.,
signed into law.
The president signed the bill - which becomes effective in
the 2008-09 school year - that had passed in the House and
Senate on Thursday. In doing so, the president approved
raising federal Pell grants by $500 a year, and to $5,400 by
2012, as well as simplifying the affordability and financial
process for students to obtain the grants.
The law, written by Kennedy as chairman of the Senate
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, also halves
interest rates to 3.4 percent for undergraduates with
subsidized student loans, and caps monthly payments at 15
percent of discretionary income.
"This was one of our major campaigns - college
affordability and textbook affordability," said Baxley.
"Those are the two big campaigns because it really
affects us as students."
She said that 20 percent of the student body at UMass in
Amherst have Pell grants to help pay for college tuition,
while another 61 percent of students graduate with loans
averaging about $14,672.
She said her textbooks cost more than $500 a semester.
Baxley said she knows of students who have had to leave
four-year institutions and enroll in community colleges
because of the finances.
"This bill doesn't solve all of our problems, but
it is definitely a great step in the right direction for
making higher education affordable to everyone," she
said.
The bill is estimated to reduce interest rates for more
than five million low- and middle-income student borrowers,
and will create a loan repayment program that will be based
on a graduate's income.
"It definitely affects our everyday lives,"
Baxley said. "Whether we can afford the finances
determines if we can come here.
"This is also a double whammy for us, first to see the
fruit of our labor being heard and seen and now enacted into
something real, and knowing that our senator is working for
us and turning something real for us into a law."
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