Cohen: 103,000 Tennessee Student Loan Borrowers Will Benefit from President Obama's Move to Make Debt More Manageable
[WASHINGTON, DC] – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today announced that President Obama’s move to give certain borrowers the ability to cap their student loan payments at 10% of their monthly income will help an estimated 103,736 citizens of Tennessee burdened with student loan debt, according to a new report released today by the Domestic Policy Council and the Council of Economic Advisers. The report also estimated that 483,000 student loan borrowers in Tennessee would benefit from the passage of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act, which Congressman Cohen has cosponsored to allow borrowers to refinance their student loans at lower rates.
“As the father of the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship, which has provided more than $3 billion to help our state’s young people attend college, I’ve always worked hard to ensure that higher education remains affordable for students and families,” said Congressman Cohen. “I agree with President Obama that we need to do more to bank on our students, and I support this move to help reduce costs for more than 100,000 Tennesseans with student loan debt. I also look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress to provide more relief to nearly half a million hard-working, responsible Tennesseans by passing Senator Warren’s student loan refinancing bill.”
The President’s executive action offers a new repayment option to millions of borrowers who were previously ineligible, including many borrowers with older loans. For example, under the President’s action a teacher earning about $39,000, with student debt of $26,500 would be able to reduce their payments by more than $1,500 a year, compared to the standard repayment plan.
Congressman Cohen met with Senator Warren yesterday to discuss their efforts to make college more affordable and the path forward for the loan refinancing bill, which has a cloture vote in the U.S. Senate scheduled today. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that, if passed, 25 million borrowers would take advantage of the student refinancing legislation and refinance their existing student loans to lower interest rates similar to those that are currently available to new student loan borrowers. Under the bill, a typical participating borrower would save roughly $2,000 over the life of their loan.
Making higher education more affordable for hard-working students and families is something that Congressman Cohen cares deeply about and has a decades-long record working to accomplish. He fought for many years as a Tennessee State Senator to overcome stiff opposition and create the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship program, which has provided more than $3 billion in scholarships and other support to the state’s students since 2004. The Congressman is also working closely with Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Elizabeth Warren and several Congressmen to help provide struggling students and borrowers with more fairness in their student loans, both through administrative changes and legislation.