Ensuring Access to Student Loans

Press Release

Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) applauded passage of the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act (H.R. 5715). This bipartisan legislation seeks to ensure that turmoil in the U.S. credit markets does not prevent any students or parents from accessing the financial aid they need to pay for college.

"Education has long been the doorway to opportunity in this country and we must ensure that the housing and credit crisis do not close this door. Fortunately, no student has been denied access to federal aid, despite the growing problems with our economy. However, we should not wait for the problem to occur before we act. For this reason, I am pleased that the Congress has moved quickly to pass this legislation and ensure that students and families can take out the student loans they need in order to attend college," said DeLauro.

Specifically, the legislation would:

- Reduce families' reliance on costlier private college loans by increasing the loan limits on federal college loans by $2,000 per year for all students;

- Give parent borrowers more time to begin paying off their federal PLUS college loans. Currently, parent borrowers must begin repayment 60 days after disbursement of the loan; under this legislation, parents would be able to defer repayment until six months after their children graduate from college. This would likely encourage more families to borrow PLUS loans rather than private college loans;

- Give the U.S. Education Secretary the temporary authority to purchase loans from lenders in the federal guaranteed loan program. The Education Department would then service the loans through its Direct Loan program. This proposal would ensure that lenders continue to have access to capital to originate new loans. The Education Department would be authorized to purchase only those loans that do not carry a net cost for the federal government.

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