Dear Congresswoman Robin Kelly – Part 3 (Final)
Since my daughter’s school loans matured I have made it a personal quest to try and address and resolve the issues with this country’s federal school loan program. In an effort to expose the horrible way this is being managed, and the terrible conditions under which our citizens are being placed, I decided as an initial phase of my campaign to write letters to the president and to my local representatives in the federal government. In Addition, so that I can hopefully achieve as much exposure as possible, I am publishing these letters here on my blog.
The first communication I sent went to the president, Congresswoman Kelly, Sen. Dick Durbin, and Sen. Kirk around March of this year.
So far I have received responses from Dick Durbin’s office, and I have had extensive communication with Congresswoman Kelly’s office. In this case, I will post my Letter to Congresswoman Robin Kelly
The second communication was sent this week to the same four people. Because this letter is about three times longer than the first I am going to publish it in three parts; this is the final part.
MY PROPOSALS BASED UPON THE PRESENT SYSTEM:
In my opinion, what needs to be done based upon the existing system is very simple.
Allow me if I may to quote my previous letter:
During my research, I found the following on the website:
This is where I found the following:
ALERT: Only certain “new” borrowers qualify for the “Pay As You Earn” plan. As of July 1, 2014, all new borrowers qualify for the more generous Pay as You Earn plan provisions such as 20 year forgiveness instead of 25 years and the more generous repayment formula. President Obama made an announcement in June 2014 that included some proposed changes to income-driven repayment. The idea is to extend the more favorable Pay as You Earn terms to all borrowers with older loans. However, this is just a proposal for now. This will not happen overnight. It will only happen if the Department of Education successfully amends the regulations. The timing is not clear. President Obama said that his goal is to make the new plan available to all borrowers by December 2015.
Simply put, all of us need to have the same opportunities and the same options to pay these loans back. The forbidden pay as you earn plan would allow me to make payments that I could afford while my family situation changes and I become more capable to make larger payment. The part of that plan that adds the excess interest that hasn’t been paid to my income later in life is a challenge I will gladly face then.
I have also been in communication with Sen. Dick Durbin. He forwarded to my attention a program that he is working on. The following is that part of our communication that details the plan that he is working on:
“I am working with my colleagues in the Senate to pass the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act (S. 2342). This bill would allow all eligible Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) and Direct Loan Program borrowers, including Parent PLUS Loans borrowers, to refinance their high-interest loans down to the rates offered to new federal borrowers in the 2013-2014 school year. Overall, this legislation would allow nearly 25 million Americans, an estimated one million in Illinois, to refinance their student loans into lower interest rates.”
Personally, I think both together would be a huge improvement over what we presently have. As I have stated in the previous part of this communication I am anxious to play an active role in helping to bring this about.
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Dear Congresswoman Robin Kelly – Part 1
Here We Go…
