Senate Passes Bill to Increase College Student Aid Headed for President's desk.
WASHINGTON -- The United States Senate today adopted 79-12 theconference report on a bill, HR 2669, that increases financial aid forcollege students. The bill includes several provisions championed byUnited States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., including an amendmentproviding $228 million for Upward Bound and $500 million forHistorically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and MinorityServing Institutions (MSIs).
"This bill takes a great step toward making college affordable formore of our students," Sen. Landrieu said.
"Louisiana students willparticularly benefit from increased Pell Grant funding, money for ourHBCUs and the continuance of the stellar program, Upward Bound.
"Education is the key for our future and this money comes at acritical time for Louisiana, when we are struggling to recover fromthe 2005 storms Katrina and Rita that devastated South Louisiana."
The College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 gives Louisiana anadditional $36 million next year, and $390.9 million for the grantsover the next five years, for need-based Pell Grants for low-incomeundergraduate students.
It increases the maximum grant by $1,090 to$5,400 over five years, and over four years will cut in half theinterest rate on subsidized student loans to 3.4 percent. It alsoincludes a provision establishing TEACH grants of $4,000 a year forundergraduate and graduate students who commit to teaching in a highneeds school.
The bill provides $228 million for Upward Bound, a program that giveshigh school students from low-income families a chance at a collegeeducation through tutoring, counseling and mentoring. Sen. Landrieuhas long supported the program, and pushed to fund grants that did notreceive funding this year.The bill includes another Landrieu supported provision -- a $500million investment in HBCUs and MSIs.
This year, Sen. Landrieu helped Dillard, Xavier and Southern Universities close on low interest loanswith reduced fees because of a provision she included for Gulf Coast HBCUs in the Fourth Emergency Supplemental spending bill.Today's bill also includes an amendment cosponsored by Sens. Landrieuand Norm Coleman, R-Minn., that promotes adoption of foster childrenby increasing their access to college grants and loans regardless oftheir adoptive parents' income.
"This amendment gives current and former foster youth the financialhelp they need to attend college and realize their full potential,"Sen. Landrieu said.The Coleman-Landrieu measure, the Fostering Adoption to FurtherStudent Achievement Act, expands the definition of "independentstudent," to include youth who were in foster care after theirthirteenth birthday.
A student's financial aid eligibility will bedetermined solely by the student's ability to pay.The conference report passed the House today as well and is expectedto be signed soon by President Bush.
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Interesting! Good to know someone's doing something. There has been some progress here in AZ, allowing foster kids to stay dependent until they are 21 instead of dumping them off at 18. They have stipulations to meet to ensure they are benefitting from it instead of just milking the state.
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