In response to APA advocacy efforts, Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) introduced a bill in December to reinstate graduate students' eligibility for federally subsidized student loans — loans that do not accrue interest while the borrower is still in school.
Congress limited these loans to undergraduates as part of the Budget Control Act of 2011. So since then, every dollar a graduate student borrows accrues interest from day one. The move showed that Congress was "disinvesting in graduate education at a time when we know that graduate education is extremely important," says Jenny Smulson, a senior legislative and federal affairs officer at APA. The change could cost a graduate student about $5,000 to $15,000 over the life of a loan, depending on the student's repayment planopens in new window.
In response, APA has been advocating to bring subsidized loans back to graduate students. In October, for example, as part of the Education Leadership Conference, about 100 attendees visited their congressional representatives to ask them to reinstate graduate students' access to these loans.
Chu's bill, the Protecting Our Students by Terminating Graduate Rates that Add to Debt (POST GRAD) Act, was inspired by those visits. It is a good sign that there is now "some momentum" on the issue, Smulson says, though Congress's tight legislative timeframe this year makes it less likely that the bill will pass.
Still, she says, it's good to have a marker out there and to bring the issue into the public eye as Congress considers the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act this year.
— Lea Winerman
