HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

217

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

EXPRESSING OUTRAGE AT recent CONGRESSIONAL CUTS TO STUDENT LOAN programs.

 

 

WHEREAS, Congress recently cut funding for federal student-loan programs in a move that is expected to increase the debt burden for many future college graduates and their families; and

WHEREAS, the legislation calls for $12,700,000,000 to be cut from federal student-loan programs over five years, raises interest rates on the popular Stafford loans to a fixed 6.8 per cent, even if commercial rates are lower, and cuts subsidies to lenders; and

WHEREAS, it is not the first time the federal government has made cuts in student-aid programs, but it is the largest single cut in dollar terms, and it follows years of increased federal support for these programs during which interest rates on student loans were kept low through government subsidies to students and lenders; and

WHEREAS, the cut is not expected to reduce the number of those eligible for student loans but instead is expected to result in higher interest payments for many student-loan borrowers, particularly parents of college students; and

WHEREAS, the changes come at a time when families have been struggling with skyrocketing tuition bills as evidenced by private-college tuition and fees, which have increased thirty-seven per cent over the past decade, while tuition at public colleges and universities has risen fifty-four per cent; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, that this body expresses its outrage at Congress for its recent cuts to student loan programs; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the President and Minority Leader of the United States Senate, the Speaker and Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of Hawaii's congressional delegation.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Student Loans; Congress