Today, NJPIRG released a new report, “Obama’s Budget: Supporting Students not Banks.” President Obama’s budget proposal makes a significant reinvestment in the Pell Grant program by cutting excessive lender subsidies from the student loan programs and redirecting that money to student aid.
More than 29 percent of all four-year public college graduates have too much debt to manage as a starting teacher in New Jersey, according to a new report released today by NJPIRG. NJPIRG’s report, "Paying Back, Not Giving Back: Student Debt's Negative Impact On Public Service Career Opportunities", estimates the percentage of college graduates in New Jersey who would have unmanageable debt it they became a teacher or a social worker.
Today, by a 216 to 214 vote mainly on party lines, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to cut a net $12 billion from the student loan programs as a part of the budget reconciliation bill, the largest cut to these programs in their history. The student aid cuts represent the lion share of the finalized budget cuts – just over 30 percent. The student aid cuts will directly affect over 124,000 New Jersey student borrowers and their families as early as July 1, whose average debt load already totals over $17,000.
Students and professors from across New Jersey gathered today to urge New Jersey Congressmen – especially Rep. Jim Saxton (R-3) and Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-4) – to vote against the federal budget bill tomorrow that makes the largest cut in student aid in history – over $12.7 billion directly from student loan programs. If passed, the loan rates for over 124,000 New Jersey student borrowers could increase as early as July 1.