President Set to Veto College Cost Reduction Act

I started to get upset when I read the title to this one. No worries, it's not as bad as the attention grabbing headline make out. Basically, Bush doesn't think the House's Bill is strong enough.


President Set to Veto the College Cost Reduction Act

What was once called the "largest investment in college financial aid since the GI Bill, helping millions of students and families pay for college," now faces a certain veto.


Military.com recently reported on the introduction of the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 (H.R. 2669). According to the author, U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the bill would make the single “largest investment in college financial aid since the GI Bill, helping millions of students and families pay for college.”


One of the most important aspects for servicemembers and veterans is the proposed $500 increase in Pell Grant scholarships over the next five years. When combined with other Pell scholarship increases passed or proposed by Congress this year, the maximum Pell Grant could reach $5,200 by 2013, up from $4,050 in 2006. Roughly 5.5 million students would benefit from this increase.


The College Cost Reduction Act also includes a number of other provisions that would ease the financial burden imposed on students and families by the cost of college:


Tuition assistance for excellent undergraduate students who agree to teach in the nation’s public schools;

Loan forgiveness for college graduates that go into public service professions;
Increased federal loan limits so that students won’t have to rely as heavily on costlier private loans; and

New tuition cost containment strategies.

“For years, college costs have been growing rapidly, far outstripping families’ ability to pay them,” said Congressman Miller. “With this bill, we are saying that no one should be denied the opportunity to go to college simply because of the price.”


However, in a statement issued by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, the bill fails to meet that goal. “[The bill] does little to benefit America's neediest students and essentially diverts a majority of savings in the bill to individuals out of school rather than focusing on aiding low-income students in school,” wrote Spelling.


According to Secretary Spelling, the House bill devotes only 38 percent of its savings to benefit low-income students, with only $5.8 billion dedicated to increase Pell Grants. While the President’s budget plan invests nearly 100 percent of its proposed savings to help students most in need, including $19.8 billion to support increases to the Pell Grant.


According to the official policy statement issued by Sec. Spellings’ office, the President’s senior advisors have recommended that he veto the House bill if it passes as introduced.


These Department of Education programs have a significant impact on servicemember and veterans’ “out-of-pocket” education expenses.

Forclosure Protection Could Have Hidden Risk

Here's something to be careful of. I'll put in the whole article and the link is above. Basically, it just says that if you've used forclosure protection due to military activation, be careful on the backside of the deployment. All that lower payments and interest could end up getting tacked onto your next 12 payments making it harder to play catch up when things get back to normal.


Foreclosure protection could have hidden risk

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jul 17, 2007 22:32:58 EDT


A House committee voted Tuesday to extend mortgage interest caps and foreclosure protection for activated service members despite warnings the move could make it more likely, not less, for someone to lose a home if they have financial problems.


The bill, HR 1315, the Veterans’ Benefits Improvement Act of 2007, includes a provision that would provide protection against foreclosure for 180 days after separation from the service and also would keep the 6 percent cap on mortgage interest promised under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act for the same 180 days.


The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee passed by bill by voice vote as one of five measures it considered on Tuesday.


Currently, the 6 percent interest cap, which applies only for loans that began before military service, applies only for the period on active duty. Current law also provides 90 days of foreclosure protection after separation.


Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., said the 180 days of protection is a compromise from the initial proposal by Rep. Albert Wynn, D-Md., that asked for one year of foreclosure protection but did not extend the interest cap.


Herseth Sandlin said the 180-day period would give a service member who might have fallen behind on their mortgage while on duty time to get current on payments, to sell the home or to work out some other arrangement short of foreclosure.


However, mortgage lenders warned the committee that a six-month freeze on foreclosure could end up making things worse instead of better, because the longer a homeowner does not pay their mortgage, the harder it becomes to catch up.


Rep. John Boozman, D-Ark., called the bill a “fairly radical change,” and tried — but failed — to limit the foreclosure protection to just three months. “These things do have consequences,” Boozman said. “My concern is in trying to do something good we may be hurting them, not helping them.”


The benefits bill includes a small change in a current adaptive housing grant program that allows a disabled service member temporarily living in the home of a family member to receive a grant of up to $14,000 to modify a home to meet special needs for severe service-related disabilities. It also creates a scholarship program to encourage college students to get degrees and certificates in blind rehabilitation.