Senator plans to aid student loan payment
Athens Post – With Ohio graduates of four-year public and private institutions facing an average debt of about $26,000 each, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown is proposing legislation that would ultimately make it easier for students to pay off student loans.
“While you always sense at a graduation the inspiration … achievement and the accomplishment, you sense more today than five years ago anxiety about jobs and leaving school with debt,” Brown said.
Brown’s bill, the Temporary Student Loan Debt Conversion Act, would allow students with Federal Family Education Loans, which are offered through private lenders, to convert to direct loans between Jan. 1 and Oct. 1, 2012, according to a news release.
This conversion removes the “middlemen” by eliminating the private lenders, according to the release.
“This legislation would help borrowers avoid financial penalties for missed payments, save Ohio graduates money on their student loans, and bolster the federal Pell Grant program that helped send more than 240,000 Ohio students to college from 2008-2009,” states the release.
