Student Aid Bill of Rights calls for streamlining loan payment process
By Rupan Bharanidaran
March 12, 2015 1:09 a.m.
President Barack Obama announced the Student Aid Bill of Rights on Tuesday, calling for the creation of a centralized payment information and complaint reporting website to make it easier for students to pay back their federal student loans.
More than 40 million Americans have student debt, and the average student loan debt is about $28,000, Obama said. The average student loan debt was $20,000 for UCLA students who graduated in 2014, according to the university’s admissions website.
Obama introduced the bill of rights in a speech at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The Student Aid Bill of Rights has four clauses, including “every student should be able to access the resources needed to pay for college” and “every borrower has the right to an affordable repayment plan.”
He also signed a presidential memorandum directing the U.S. Department of Education to create a integrated complaint system where students would be able to voice concerns about the student loan process. Obama also directed the department to form a single website where students can view their payment and debt information on all of their federal loans.
In the current system, students have to go to different websites to access the payment information for each of their loan providers.
The Obama administration has worked on addressing student debt in the past, most notably with a law signed in 2010 expanding Pell Grants and an order in 2014 allowing students to cap their loan repayments to 10 percent of their income.
In a conference call with college student newspapers Wednesday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said the websites for the complaint system and payment information would be created by July 2016. He added that the Department of Education is working to raise the standards for debt collectors to ensure they are fair and transparent, and improve federal student loan programs’ customer service.
Ted Mitchell, the undersecretary of education, said the department is working on publicizing the various federal student loan programs, especially the “Pay As You Earn” plan, which caps debt repayments based on borrowers’ income by reaching out to more students and informing them about these programs.
Compiled by Rupan Bharanidaran, Bruin contributor.
