Senior model senate project
During this project we all got to understand more about how our government functions. Our senior class broke into three different committees; college debt, climate change, and immigration. We all had to write bills and play our part in congress in the perspective of a real senator we were assigned. I was assigned to Lamar Alexander the republican senator in Tennessee. I was the committee chair so I ran the committee meetings along with the ranking member. I also did a lot of research about republican views overall and learned a lot about conservative and liberal approaches to each of these problems.
My Research Notes
https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics/
Combined undergraduate and graduate debt by degree:
https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-college-debt
Other Relevant Facts:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4540335/senator-lamar-alexander-floor-remarks-student-loan-debt
My Senators Opinion:
http://www.republicanviews.org/republican-views-on-education/
Republicans Support:
Don’t Support:
Democratic Approaches:
https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics/
Combined undergraduate and graduate debt by degree:
- MBA = $42,000 (11% of graduate degrees)
- Master of Education = $50,879 (16%)
- Master of Science = $50,400 (18%)
- Master of Arts = $58,539 (8%)
- Law = $140,616 (4%)
- Medicine and health sciences = $161,772 (5%)
- Loans in repayment – $468.1 billion; 15.7 million borrowers
- Loans in deferment – $101.7 billion; 3.4 million borrowers
- Loans in forbearance – $102.8 billion; 2.7 million borrowers
- Loans in default – $63.2 billion; 3.9 million borrowers
- Loans in grace period – $42.6 billion; 1.7 million borrowers
- 2016 - $1.3 trillion in student loan debt, spread out among about 44 million borrowers
- Student loan delinquency rate of 11.1%
- Average monthly student loan payment (for borrower aged 20 to 30 years): $351
- Median monthly student loan payment (for borrower aged 20 to 30 years): $203
- Average Student debt after graduation is $37,172
- Direct Loans – $911.6 billion; 30.5 million borrowers
- FFEL Loans – $342.6 billion; 16.8 million borrowers.
- Perkins Loans – $8.0 billion; 2.7 million borrowers.
- Stafford Subsidized – $266.7 billion; 28.9 million borrowers
- Stafford Unsubsidized – $423.5 billion; 27.1 million borrowers
- Stafford combined – $690.3 billion; 31.9 million unique recipients
- Grad PLUS – $50.2 billion; 1.0 million borrowers
- Parent PLUS – $74.5 billion; 3.3 million borrowers
- Perkins – $8.0 billion; 2.7 million borrowers
- Consolidation – $439.2 billion; 12.0 million borrowers
https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-college-debt
Other Relevant Facts:
- 17% of federal loan borrowers are in default
- Over 50% of recent graduates are unemployed or underemployed.
- Auto Debt and College Debt are comparable in size
- When a certain percentage of loans at a college reach default the college get sanctioned
- More than 1 out of every 7 loan payers default in their first three years paying back the loan
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4540335/senator-lamar-alexander-floor-remarks-student-loan-debt
My Senators Opinion:
- Support Fast Act
- Supports Higher Education Act
- In favor of allowing colleges to share in the risk of student loan (skin in the game)
- Simplify federal regulation
http://www.republicanviews.org/republican-views-on-education/
Republicans Support:
- Make understanding the real cost of loans easier for students so they can make smarter choices
- When banks provided loans to students, the government should subsidize the banks to provide the loans but the loans should not come directly from the government.
- Privatize the framework of college loans
- Innovatively educate students
- Put emphasis on technical, online, 2 year, and trade schools. As well as work based learning
- Simplify federal regulation so it cost institutions and students less
- Move away from government control and back to parent, teacher and school board control
- Vocational Skills
- Higher education opportunities directly related to jobs
- Transparency
- Promote diverse types of school choices
- Initiatives that increase benefits to students who are taking more difficult courses
- Achievement based access to education (reward those who work hard)
- Improve K-12 schooling
- Merit pay for teachers
- Phase out big subsidies to students that enable schools to raise prices w/impunity (Pell Grants, cheap student loans, tuition tax deductions)
- Capping the maximum loan that someone can borrow at 57,500
- Students need to finance their loans based on what they can pay back
- Higher Education Act: allow students loan borrowers to discharge their loans if they can show that an action taken by their school that violated state law.
Don’t Support:
- The republican party believes in doing away with federal student loans entirely
- “One size fits all” education
- Not allowing the private sector to finance loans discouraged market competition which drives prices down.
- Federal reform is not as effective as state level
Democratic Approaches:
- Free tuition plan for families making 125 thousand or less - 350 billion - Hillary's plan
- Support direct grants, federal loans and in-state tuition subsidies
- Not racist
- Affordable for every child
- No for profit schools
- Easier for low income
- Adjustable repayment plans
- Kill gainful employment
- Income share agreements