Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Student aid, linked to health care, gets a trim

An increase in Pell Grants was cut back in the revised student aid reform legislation.
An increase in Pell Grants was cut back in the revised student aid reform legislation.

Congressional Democrats on March 18 trimmed their original student loan plans, reduced spending for community colleges, and eliminated early childhood money from a broad rewrite of a college aid bill piggybacked on to fast-track health care legislation.

The student loan measure would be the biggest change in college assistance programs since Congress created them in the 1960s, ending a private-lender program by having the government originate all loans to needy students.

But facing savings smaller than anticipated from the switch and a shortfall in Pell Grant money for low-income students, Democrats are proposing no increases in Pell Grants over the next two years and a modest increase over the five years that follow.…Read More

Duncan pushes back against private lenders

Duncan said he has "a lot of confidence in the Senate leadership to step up" and pass the direct lending bill.
Duncan said he has "a lot of confidence in the Senate leadership to step up" and pass the direct lending bill.

Responding to private lenders’ lobbying efforts against White House plans for direct federal loans, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Feb. 17 that he trusts the U.S. Senate will pass the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) and “end this boondoggle for banks.”

Five months after the U.S. House of Representatives passed SAFRA, senators have not voted on the bill, while private lending companies have organized town-hall style meetings and aired television ads opposing the bill in several states.

In an afternoon conference call with reporters on Feb. 17, Duncan emphasized that there isn’t a “drop dead date” for passage of the direct lending legislation, and he promised that education officials are “in this for the long haul.”…Read More

Industry lobbying imperils overhaul of student loans

Four months ago, it appeared all but certain that the White House and Democrats in Congress would succeed in overhauling the student loan business and ending government subsidies to private lenders. But an aggressive lobbying campaign by the nation’s biggest lenders has now put one of President Obama’s signature plans in peril, reports the New York Times, with lenders using sit-downs with lawmakers, town-hall-style meetings, and petition drives to plead their case and stay in business. Obama called the idea a “no-brainer” last fall, predicting it would take billions of dollars from the profits of private lenders and give it directly to students, and many colleges already have moved to get loans directly from the federal government in anticipation of the next move by Congress. But House and Senate aides say that the administration’s plan faces a far tougher fight than it did last fall, when the House passed its version of the bill. The fierce attacks from the lending industry, the Massachusetts election that cost the Democrats their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, and the fight over a health-care bill have all damaged the chances for the student loan measure, said the aides, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. But they said the administration had recognized the threat and was beginning to push back in an effort to get the plan approved…

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