Dive Summary:
- Congressional Democrats--including George Miller, John Tierney and John Yarmuth--criticized a Congressional Budget Office report released on Tuesday that estimated the Department of Education would make a record $51 billion profit off student loan borrowers this year.
- The congressmen said that, under current policy, struggling students and families are being targeted as a source of profit, and Miller is calling for legislation that would include considerably lower interest rates and debt forgiveness for those who are struggling.
- The Friday comments came just one day after the House Committee on Education and the Workforce passed legislation by House Republicans that would tie student loan interest rates to the government's borrowing costs, and a full vote is expected prior to a July 1 doubling of subsidized Stafford loan rates to 6.8%.
From the article:
... "We don't see students or their parents as profit centers, and we don't think it's an appropriate concept to be acting like a market-driven bank here," Tierney said.
Miller criticized a policy that is leading to "immense profit being extracted from students and families that are struggling." ...