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Rep. Chu Introduces Bill to Restart Federal Loan Support for Grad Students

May 18, 2017

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27) reintroduced the Protecting Our Students by Terminating Graduate Rates that Add to Debt (POST GRAD) Act. The bill would once again make graduate students eligible to receive Federal Direct Subsidized Loans. That eligibility was ended by the Budget Control Act of 2011. Rep. Chu released the following statement:

"As our economy progresses, we must treat graduate degrees as a necessity for the workforce, and that means making graduate school more attainable and affordable. With demand for workers in fields like healthcare, mental health, and school administration growing, so is the need for more advanced degrees. But high tuition costs and onerous loans make that degree unattainable for many who are not already wealthy.

"This bill would fix that by treating graduate students like their undergraduate counterparts and once again making them eligible to receive Federal Direct Subsidized Loans. These loans do not accrue interest while the student is still in school, saving the student thousands of dollars over time. We want the best and the brightest, not just those that can afford it, to have access to postgraduate education. At a time when our country is facing a shortage of specialized workers in critical fields, we should be doing everything we can to encourage students to enter these fields, rather than creating additional barriers to higher education."

The POST GRAD Act is endorsed by: The American Psychological Association, the American Association of Medical Colleges, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, the American Council on Education, the Asian American Pacific Islander Association of Colleges and Universities, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, the National Association of School Financial Aid Administrators, the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, UNCF, the National Education Association, the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the California State University, the University of California, the American Federation of Teachers, the American Psychological Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the Council on Social Work Education, the American Art Therapy Association, the American Occupational Therapy Association, the Association for Women in Mathematics, the Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health, and the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Issues:Education