President Obama will introduce a “Bill of Rights” for student borrowers Tuesday and announce a new executive action to help them repay college loans.
The four-point bill, likely to win support among young voters, will reflect Obama’s efforts and past legislative actions relating to student loans, the White House said.
Obama is to lay out his plan at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. It will include a directive to the Department of Education to develop a “state-of-the-art complaint system.” The department has been criticized recently for its oversight of lenders.
The bill of rights states:
Student borrowing has been a major object of attention for Obama as aggregate student debt has passed $1.1 trillion and default rates nearly doubled in the past decade.
Obama and Democratic members of Congress support legislation to reduce student loan balances at taxpayer expense, but Republicans have blocked them.
But on Tuesday the White House boasted about measures past victories including a boosted Pell Grant for poor students and the creation of the American Opportunity Tax Credit.
Obama has also taken major executive actions on the government’s management of its student loan offerings, including a Pay As You Earn plan that will allow more borrowers to enter programs that cap student loan payments as a share of income and then forgive the debt after 20 years.
In addition to creating a new complaints website, Obama is set to announce that the administration will require stronger consumer protections on federal student loans and raise standards for debt collectors. He will direct the Education Department to work with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to try to improve student borrowers’ understanding of how student debt repayment works, and with the Office of Management and Budget to better manage the government’s student loan portfolio.
