Richard Schwab Writes

Student loan interest rates set to double

The White House and Democratic lawmakers seek a student loan fix.

On July 1, 2012 interest rates on subsidized Stafford student loans, that almost eight million students use to pay for college, will double. This will cause some borrowers to pay almost $5000. more on their loans over a ten year repayment.

U.S. Representatives Gary Peters (D-Mich) and Joe Courtny (D-Conn) have introduced bill H.R. 3826 to keep Federal Stafford loans at 3.4 percent.

In a written statement to Congress, Peters and Courtny make the case, "When Treasury bonds are being sold at 2 percent and mortgage rates can be had for less than 4 percent, it is outrageous to make college students pay two to three times the going interest rates."

The Obama Administration has taken historic steps to provide Americans with a fair shot at an affordable college education.

President Obama has called on Congress to extend the tuition tax credit and to double the number of work-study jobs over the next five years.

President Obama said, "In America, higher education cannot be a luxury. It's an economic imperative that every family must be able to afford...Making it harder for young people to afford higher education and earn their degrees is nothing more than cutting our own future off at the knees."

At a time when the unemployment rate for Americans with at least a college degree is half the national average, it has never been more important to put higher education within reach for every American.

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chair John Kline (R-MN) noted, "Congress must either allow interest rates to rise on student loans or stick taxpayers with another multi-billion dollar bill."

What hypocrisy! The House Republicans just passed a "small business" tax cut which adds about $47 billion to the deficit. They're not paying for it. They're not talking about it. They don't mind.

Small businesses are defined as companies with less than 500 employees that earn more than $1 million a year. So it's a tax cut going to sports teams, lobbying firms, law firms, hedge fund managers, and the likes of Donald Trump.

Republicans seem to use the deficit issue as a club against Democrats. When push comes to shove, and the choice is between a tax cut or reducing the deficit, Republicans take the tax cut.

Preventing an unnecessary and damaging increase to student loan interest rates should be an area of bipartisan agreement.

It makes no sense for Congress to short change investing in education. We face an increasingly competitive global economy.

To stay on top, we need the most highly educated workforce in the world.

We need to give our young people every chance to succeed in the jobs of today and tomorrow.

Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school, and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is currently neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com)

Richard Schwab Writes

What's the best choice for America?

 

The budget, created by U.S. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R) of Wisconsin, has been endorsed by the Republican Party.

Mitt Romney has embraced the Ryan plan, calling it "marvelous." The Ryan Romney budget is now the Republican 2012 election platform and economic program.

It's on the table. The Ryan Romney Republican plan would change the role of government in our society.

The plan withdraws the government from assisting those with low incomes and those facing difficult times. The plan is an effort to renegotiate the entire social and economic edifice of America.

The Ryan Romney Republican plan is terrible for everyone except the very wealthy, corporations, and the Department of Defense.

What's in the Ryan Romney Republican plan?

• Medicare is cut by $205 billion. The plan offers subsidies ("premium support") for seniors to buy their own private health insurance.

• Slashes 700 billion from Medicaid (cuts $1.7 trillion over the next decade) and reduces the program by 75% by 2050.

• 17 million people would lose Medicare and CHIP coverage provided by the Affordable Care Act.

• Pell Grants are reduced by more than $1000. for nearly 10 million students.

• Cuts education funding for individuals with disabilities.

• Kicks 60,000 low-income children out of Head Start (200,000 out each year over the next decade.)

• 2 million women, infants, and children would be cut from WIC programs that give them access to healthy food.

• Tax rates are set at 10% and 25%. As a result, those making less than $100,000. pay a higher effective tax rate; those making a million receive a $150,000. tax cut.

• Federal work force cut 10% and a pay freeze through 2015.

• Debilitating cuts for law enforcement, border patrol, scientific and medical research, food safety, environmental protection, federal highways, national parks, weather monitoring, education, and the FAA.

• The Congressional Budget Office concluded the plan doesn't balance the federal budget.

The Ryan Romney Republican plan has been denounced and described as "Social Darwinism."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has decried the plan. In a letter to Ryan, they said don't slash the safety net, particularly if you're doing so to finance tax cuts for the wealthy. "We urge you to draw a circle of protection around resources that serve those in greatest need ... even though they do not have powerful advocates or great influence."

Ryan has charged that aid programs encourage people to sponge off the government. "We don't want to turn the safety net into a hammock that lulls people into complacency and dependence."

Here's your choice America:

Guaranteed health care benefits for seniors, or tax breaks for the wealthy?

Food for poor children, or no taxes on offshore multinational corporate profits?

Increases in defense spending, or health care for 48 million Americans?

We have a pretty good idea of what President Obama has in mind. Now it's crystal clear what the other side is up to.

This is why our votes on November 6, 2012 matter so much.

Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school, and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is currently neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com)

Richard Schwab Writes

Combating unscrupulous practices

We've all seen their ubiquitous television commercials - the for-profit colleges that market heavily to military families.

What's the problem?

Veterans and military families have complained they have been defrauded and misled by for-profit schools that target their GI education benefits.

Federal student financial aid accounts for up to 90 percent of for-profit college revenues.

Some for-profit schools spend more on recruiting than on instruction. A U.S. Senate study of 15 of the largest publicly traded for-profit educational companies found they spent a combined $3.7 billion annually on marketing and recruiting. The study also revealed for-profit schools on average have lower success rates than traditional nonprofit public and private colleges. Among those who enrolled at 10 of the largest for-profit chains in 2008-2009, 54 percent had quit by 2010.

President Obama spoke to young soldiers at Fort Stewart, GA. Addressing fraudulent marketing and recruiting practices, the President said, "they don't care about you...they care about your cash... They're trying to swindle and hoodwink you."

Pointing out what he called "one of the worst examples," Obama said a for-profit college recruiter enrolled Marines with brain injuries who couldn't even remember what courses they had signed up for. "That's appalling, that's disgraceful."

What's the solution?

President Obama has signed an executive order adding new protections for military service members.

Plans to trademark the term "GI Bill" will help prevent the current deceptive military-themed websites that appear to be government-run or connected to the GI Bill benefit system.

The VA and DoD will be required to improve oversight of improper recruiting practices.

Holly Petraeus (wife of David Petraeus, the four-star general and current CIA Director) is the Assistant Director of the recently created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB.) She has been charged with helping the military and their families make better informed decisions concerning financial products and services. Also, the CFPB will serve as a centralized complaint system for military/veterans.

This year voluntary, next year required, schools will participate in the "Know Before You Owe" program. A system that allows students to calculate the true cost of tuition and fees.

The Student Veterans of America Association has applauded the President's executive order.

Look what can be accomplished when Congressional dysfunction isn't in the way.

Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school, and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is currently neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com)