Miller’s failed amendment also proposed establishing a new program to boost the college participation rates of low-income Black students at historically Black colleges and universities. The amendment also would have raisedthe tribal college minimum grant to $500,000 and stabilized tribal college construction by guaranteeing that construction funds would be covered under HEA.
In response to the defeat of his measure, Miller and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., introduced separate legislation dubbed the “Reverse the Raid on Student Aid Act of 2006.” The bill would implement the subsidized loan interest rate cut which was voted down in the House HEA reauthorization.
“This decision by the Bush administration and the Republican Congress means that the cost of college students’ interest rate is going to go up by 20-25 percent during the life of the loan,” Durbin says. “These kids, saddled with debt anywhere from $15,000 to $50,000 or more, make decisions on what they’ll do with their lives based on their student loan payments.
“So I think if we are committed to our students and future generations, in giving them the options they need to make this a better nation, we need to undo the harm that’s been done by this bill,” he says.
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
