WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos appeared before a Senate education subcommittee Tuesday to defend her department’s proposed 2018 budget amid charges that it would make college less affordable and increase student debt.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) said the proposed federal education budget of Republican President Donald J. Trump offers “no relief for students” who are being saddled with increasing amounts of student loan debt.
“In fact, just the opposite is true,” Durbin said, lamenting how the budget freezes the Pell grant, forcing students to borrow more money, and cuts the federal work-study program, thereby lessening opportunities to reduce their debt.
Durbin also took DeVos to task for submitting a budget proposal that he said would increase interest by $38 billion over 10 years of payments by student borrowers due to the elimination of subsidized loans. The White House characterizes the $38 million as “10-year savings.”
“It means a greater debt at the end of the day,” Durbin said.
DeVos said she “totally agrees” with Durbin that student debt and student loans are “grave concerns” but said her department’s proposed budget “actually gives students a well-defined and new way to address their student loans long-term.” She was referring to a proposed income-driven repayment plan that would cap student loan repayment at 12.5 percent of a borrower’s discretionary income and forgive the loan after 15 years for an undergraduate.
“So it’s a really specific plan that will allow students to address this,” DeVos said.
