Reducing the Cost of College

SENATOR COLEMAN IS GETTING THINGS DONE TO INCREASE ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION AND MAKE COLLEGE MORE AFFORDABLE

As a father of one child about to graduate college and another about to enter, Senator Coleman understands firsthand the challenges parents are faced with in being able to access affordable, quality higher education. Every student should have the opportunity to pursue the highest level of education available and to come out of it without an enormous amount of debt as a result.

• Senator Coleman proudly led the effort in the Senate to expand Pell Grant awards. In 2004, as a result of a Coleman amendment, the maximum Pell Grant award increased from $4,050 to $4,500.
• The College Cost Reduction and Access Act, a bill Senator Coleman fought for, became law in September 2007. This bill increases the maximum Pell Grant award to $5,400 by 2012 and increases the family income level at which a student is automatically eligible for the maximum Pell Grant to $30,000.
• Senator Coleman worked to create the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education grants program, providing $4,000 a year to undergraduate and graduate students who agree to teach a high-need subject, such as math and science, in a high-need school. This initiative creates a new loan forgiveness program for full-time public service employees in emergency management, the military, law enforcement, public education and public childcare. Overall, this legislation will provide an additional $21.57 billion over 5 years for federal student aid programs.
• Senator Coleman recently introduced the College Textbook Affordability Act of 2007 to reduce the astronomical cost of college textbooks. As every student and parent of a college student knows, there is an enormous discrepancy between the price of books at regular book sellers and those at college bookstores. The Coleman legislation would help bridge this gap.
• This year, Senator Coleman joined with Republican and Democratic colleagues in a bipartisan effort to ensure that funding for the Perkins Loans program, a vital source of reduced interest loans for students from low income families, remains at $65.4 million and is not cut.