Salem, Oregon – Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon is supporting a new attempt in Congress to help graduate students throughout the country with their financial problems. Wyden is working with a number of Democratic members to push a bill that would give students who want to get advanced degrees back access to subsidized federal loans. This is something they lost over ten years ago.
The law is called the “Protecting Our Students by Terminating Graduate Rates That Add to Debt Act.” Its goal is to stop interest from building up on federal loans for graduate students while they are still in school. This would be like the benefits that students already have, which is that their loan interest doesn’t start to pile up until after they finish school.
“There is a huge demand for professionals that need a graduate degree whether they are doctors, lawyers, social workers or mental health professionals,” Wyden said. “While Republicans have been clear that their priority is to limit access to these high paying professional jobs to the wealthy, I am committed to making higher education within reach for everyday folks in Oregon and across the nation.”
The law clearly addresses long-standing concerns about how much graduate school costs. Most of the time, advanced degrees are needed for jobs like social work, nursing, school leadership, and physical therapy. But the rising cost of school and the removal of loan subsidies in 2011 have made it harder for students to follow these pathways without falling into a lot of debt.
The Budget Control Act of 2011 made it such that graduate students could no longer access Federal Direct Subsidized Loans. Many lawmakers and advocates say this was unjust because it made debt burdens worse. The problem is made worse by the fact that interest rates on graduate loans are now at their highest level since 2006.
This measure wants to fix that by bringing back subsidized loans for graduate and professional students. It also has rules that block interest from building up on subsidized loans during times of economic hardship deferment. This is an extra benefit for people facing financial struggles after graduation.
The bill is being pushed by California Senator Alex Padilla and California Representative Judy Chu, with the support of numerous Senate Democrats. The American Psychological Association, the National Education Association, the American Physical Therapy Association, and many other academic and medical groups support the initiative.
The stakes are enormous for a lot of people who borrow money. More than 1.6 million people in the U.S. have Grad PLUS loans, which add up to $91 billion in government debt. If this bill passes, it might change the way graduate students pay for their education in a big way, possibly saving them thousands of dollars over the life of their loans.
As the conversation around student debt continues to grow louder, lawmakers like Wyden are hoping to put affordability—and fairness—back at the center of graduate education policy.
The full text of the bill is here.
