Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick: “the Republican higher education bill, the College Access and Opportunity Act, H.R. 609, represents a missed opportunity…”

“the Republican higher education bill, the College Access and Opportunity Act, H.R. 609, represents a missed opportunity to make college more affordable, boost America's economic competitiveness, and invest in America's future. At its core, the Higher Education Act, HEA, historically has sought to improve access to a college education for our Nation's most needy students. The current reauthorization bill does little to fulfill this premise and has the potential to greatly detract from that important goal. The goal of Congress and this bill should be to expand higher education opportunities, not restrict them. Despite Republican leadership's claims, H.R. 609, the ``Missed College Opportunities Act,'' does little to help the students it claims to help. Just a month after cutting student aid by $12 billion, Republicans continue to be out of touch with the needs of American students and families. H.R. 609 fails to provide a real increase in student aid. H.R. 609 fails to lower college loan interest rates. H.R. 609 freezes the authorized level of the maximum Pell Grant scholarship--at just $200 above current levels--through 2013 and it does not include any mandatory increase in Pell. The Democratic substitute, which was not adopted, would have cut interest rates in half for the borrowers, from a fixed rate of 6.8 percent to a low fixed rate of 3.4 percent. As a result the costs of college would be lowered by $2.4 billion for low- and middle-income students.…”