Scott Powers
U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson announced Thursday he had filed a bill to make tuition free and restructure student loans for students at public colleges and universities.
Grayson, an Orlando Democrat running for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat, modeled his House Resolution 4385, introduced last week, after a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate last year by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is running for president.
The would have the U.S. Department of Education award grants to states to allow them to eliminate tuition and other required fees at state colleges and universities.
The bill was referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. It does not yet have any co-sponsors.
It also would modify provisions related to interest rates on future federal student loans, regardless of public or private colleges, and allow current student loan borrowers to modify their interest rates to reflect current rates.
It also has provisions that address Federal Work Study programs and financial assistance programs.
“This bill provides qualified students with the means to get a high-quality education at a state school, as well as make it easier for graduates of private universities to pay off their debts,” Grayson stated in a news release issued by his Congressional office.
“Our students and graduates currently owe $1.2 trillion due to the high cost of tuition and high student loan interest rates. That’s more than we owe on our credit cards. It’s stopping many graduates from buying houses, starting businesses, or in many cases even moving out of their parents’ homes. It stops them from fully participating in our economy, which hurts all of us. We have the means, and the need, to provide tuition-free education to our students. It’s time we did so.”
