College Affordability Act

Summary: On October 25, 2019, PAEA submitted comments to the House Education and Labor Committee on H.R. 4674, the College Affordability Act, which would represent a comprehensive reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. In this letter, PAEA praised the inclusion of certain provisions, such as:

• The elimination of origination fees on federal student loans
• The protection of Grad PLUS loans as a borrowing option for students
• Structural reforms to improve forgiveness rates under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program
• Allowing disadvantaged students to use remaining Pell grant eligibility to support the costs associated with their first graduate degree
• Increased and permanent funding to support historically black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions

As efforts to reauthorize the Higher Education Act continue, PAEA also urged the committee to support a principle included in the reauthorization proposal of committee Republicans that would establish borrowing parity under federal loan programs between PA students and their peers in the health professions.