Details About Obama’s New Student Loan Initiatives to Develop Over Time
Yesterday, President Obama set out three actions he is taking to help people pay off student debt. We all have lots of questions about exactly who will get help and how and when. PAYE expansion requires changes to regulations and the president has given the Department of Education one year to complete the regulations and ordered that they take effect on December 31, 2015. I'll be advocating for the best interests of student loan borrowers throughout the regulatory process and I'll post details as they develop. President Obama will take questions about student debt on Tumblr today at 4:00 Eastern: http://obamairl.tumblr.com/
The only detail that is so far available can be found in this White House Fact Sheet, the accompanying Presidential Memorandum, and the president's comments:
"Number one, I’m directing our Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, to give more Americans who are already making their loan payments a chance to cap those payments at 10 percent of their income. We call it “Pay As You Earn.” We know it works, because we’ve already offered it to millions of young people. It’s saving folks like Andy hundreds of dollars potentially every month. It’s giving graduates the opportunity to pursue the dreams that inspired them to go to school in the first place, and that’s good for everybody. And we want more young people to start their own businesses. We want more young people becoming teachers and nurses and social workers. We want young people to be in a position to pursue their dreams. And we want more young people who act responsibly to be able to manage their debt over time. So we’re announcing steps that will open up “Pay As You Earn” to nearly 5 million more Americans. That’s the first action we’re taking today.
The second action is to renegotiate contracts with private companies like Sallie Mae that service our student loans. And we’re going to make it clear that these companies are in the business of helping students, not just collecting payments, and they owe young people the customer service, and support, and financial flexibility that they deserve. That’s number two.
Number three -- we’re doing more to help every borrower know all the options that are out there, so that they can pick the one that’s right for them. So we’re going to work with the teachers’ associations, and the nurses’ associations, with business groups; with the YMCA, and non-profits and companies like TurboTax and H&R Block. And tomorrow, I’m going to do a student loan Q&A with Tumblr to help spread the word -- you’re laughing because you think, what does he know about Tumblr? (Laughter.) But you will recall that I have two teenage daughters so that I am hip to all these things. (Laughter.) Plus I have all these twenty-somethings who are working for me all the time. (Laughter.)
But to give even more student borrowers the chance to save money requires action from Congress. I’m going to be signing this executive order. It’s going to make progress, but not enough. We need more. We’ve got to have Congress to make some progress. Now, the good news is, as I said, there are some folks in Congress who want to do it. There are folks here like Jim Clyburn, John Tierney, who are helping lead this fight in the House. We’ve got Elizabeth Warren, who’s leading this fight in the Senate. Elizabeth has written a bill that would let students refinance their loans at today’s lower interest rates, just like their parents can refinance a mortgage. It pays for itself by closing loopholes that allow some millionaires to pay a lower tax rate than middle-class families."