Advocate Statement Opposing Sen. Alexander’s Legislation to Reform Higher Education Act

September 26, 2019 — Press Release

Boston – Statement of Persis Yu, director of the National Consumer Law Center’s Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project, in response to today’s introduction of a scaled-back higher education bill by Senator Lamar Alexander:

“Students and borrowers need real, wholesale reform of the Higher Education Act to make it easier for borrowers to succeed in student loan repayment and ensure that falling behind does not threaten families’ financial security. We also need to hold institutions accountable for misconduct as well as to provide relief to harmed students and empower students and borrowers to vindicate their rights. Senator Alexander’s piece-meal approach ignores this urgent need for reform and attempts to hold hostage funding that is expiring for historically black colleges and universities and other minority serving institutions that should be addressed separately. We hope that Congress will reject this bill and work towards a real solution for struggling students and borrowers.”

For NCLC’s recommendations on reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, see:

Comments on Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, February 23, 2018