Washington, DC (January 17, 2007) – Congressman Rubén Hinojosa (TX-15) today addressed the U.S. House of Representatives on H.R. 5, the College Student Debt Relief Act of 2007. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise in support of H.R. 5, the College Student Debt Relief Act of 2007.  Last year the 109th Congress cut $12 billion from the student loan programs.  These savings were not re-invested in helping low and moderate income families send their children to college.  Instead, the $12 billion from the student loan program was used to underwrite the irresponsible deficit spending generated by tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.  Those cuts severely hampered our nation’s ability to close the college access gap for Hispanic and other low and moderate income students.

The 110th Congress has a new set of priorities.   HR 5 will cut in half the interest on subsidized student loans by the year 2011. This legislation will save the average borrower $4,400 over the life of the loan. The student loan programs have become an important piece of the access puzzle for Hispanic families.  This interest rate reduction is part of the solution.

Hispanic students borrow less on average than other groups.  The reluctance to assume debt that could be difficult to repay has pushed many Hispanic students into attendance patterns that jeopardize their ability to persist until graduation.  Nevertheless, according to the report, How Latino Students Pay for College, Excelencia in Education, the average loan amounts exceeded the average grant amounts by more than $1800. 

It is of critical importance to the Hispanic community that we provide assurances to borrowers that there are protections to help them meet their student loan obligations.

We are committed to addressing the other pieces of the access and affordability puzzle as well.  We will move forward to ensure that academic preparation is no longer a missing piece of the puzzle.  Today, there are many gaps and leaks in the educational pipeline.  For Hispanic students, the on-time high school graduation rate hovers around 50 percent and the college-ready rate is less than 20 percent.

We will make sure that the early awareness of the financial aid piece of the puzzle is not missing. A recent survey conducted by the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute found that more than half of Hispanic parents and 43 percent of young adults could not name a single source of college financial aid.  Certainly, we can do better.

Finally, and most importantly, we will invest in the most important piece of the puzzle – the Pell grant.  The Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance estimates that in 2003, more than 400,000 college-qualified low-income students did not enroll in a four-year college, and 170,000 did not enroll in any college at all because of financial barriers.  The maximum Pell grant has remained frozen for 4 years.  That must change.

But first, with H.R. 5, we will right a wrong and place savings from the student loan program where they belong – with our low and middle income students.  I urge all my colleagues to support this down payment on college access and affordability and to vote yes on H.R. 5