My Central Jersey - Pallone Discusses College Affordability

News Article

By Susan Loyer

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., 6th District, hosted a roundtable discussion with student leaders at Rutgers University Monday to talk about the challenges many undergraduate and graduate students face attempting to finance their education.

Pallone heard from current students and also discussed ongoing efforts at the federal level to lighten the burden of student debt and enable more young people to pursue higher education, according to a statement.

"A college education is one of the most valuable investments a family can make, but today, millions of graduates are entering the workforce burdened with tens of thousands of dollars of debt," Pallone said in the statement. "Graduates across the country are putting their dreams on hold as they struggle to pay off their student loans."

Skyrocketing tuition costs have left nearly 40 million Americans working to repay $1.2 trillion in student loans. Current law, however, prevents hard-working, responsible borrowers from refinancing their student loans at today's low rates, the way that people can refinance their home and auto loans. As a result, graduates are often stuck with interest rates at 8 percent, 12 percent or even higher, the statement said.

Pallone is a co-sponsor of the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act, which would save students and families thousands of dollars by allowing federal and private student loan borrowers to refinance their loans at the historically low rates available to those taking out new federal loans during the 2013-2014 school year.

Currently, 1,172,000 New Jerseyans hold $28,452,337,000 in student debt. In all, the federal government provides nearly $303 million in student aid to undergraduates at Rutgers and $118 million to graduate students, the statement said.

"You can refinance your home loan, your car loan and your small-business loan, but you can't refinance your federal student loan," Pallone said. "That is just plain wrong. Our bill fixes that problem and saves families thousands of dollars on their loans."

Student loan debt has now eclipsed credit-card debt and comprises the second largest form of consumer debt, behind mortgages, the statement said. Student debt also weighs down borrowers of all ages, not just recent graduates as many assume. 33 percent of outstanding student loan balances are from borrowers age 30-39, and 34 percent of student loan balances are held by borrowers who are 40 years old or older.

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