Student activist Azeen Khanmalek joins national leaders in calling for increased grant aid
WASHINGTON, SEPT. 15 - On Tuesday, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Education and Workforce chairman, Congressman George Miller, and U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan to rally in anticipation of the passage of HR 3221, the massive student aid bill pending in the House that is slated for a vote this week.
Surrounded by students from area colleges, Congressman Miller stated: "The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, H.R. 3221, will give us the opportunity to make historic -- and necessary investments -- in grants and other aid to help more students graduate from college with less debt. It will help us transform our student aid programs so that they finally operate in the best interests of students -- not banks -- and rebuild an economy where every student has a fair shot at the American Dream."
H.R. 3221 is the largest investment in student aid in history. It diverts $40 billion dollars away from banks that receive a massive subsidy to lend to students and toward students in the form of steadily increase Pell grant aid.
“The number of students graduating with over $25,000 in loan debt has increased five fold in the past twelve years. Increasing grant aid at the level contained in this bill will lower student reliance on loans to pay for college. This is a profound investment,” noted Richard Williams, U.S. PIRG Higher Education Associate, who was present at the rally.
The U.S.PIRG Higher Education Project, on behalf of the campus chapters of PIRG across the country, has engaged tens of thousands of students and borrowers in legislative efforts to make student loan debt more manageable through lowering interest rates on loans and creating generous loan repayment options.
Also on Tuesday, U.S. PIRG coordinated a telephone press conference featuring the Congressman specifically for college journalists to outreach to their campuses.
Azeen Khanmalek, a student volunteer involved with PIRG at University of Massachusetts at Amherst, spoke on the call, explaining to reporters that he would be $85,000 in debt when he graduates in May.
“Student loan debt is a big barrier for graduates because it stops us from pursuing our dreams. Students should be able to pay for college without a huge debt burden,” Khanmalek said.
On Wednesday, Khanmalek and other student volunteers at campus PIRG chapters are building “walls of debt” to symbolize the obstacle graduates face when they graduate with heavy loan debt burden. The walls will be built with paper ‘bricks’ that will feature the debt level of individual student signers and will be delivered to local congressional offices.
In cyberspace, U.S. PIRG, together with the United States Student Association and Campus Progress, are emailing over 100,000 young adults to ask them to sign a “Wall of Debt” on the web. U.S PIRG has also created 50 Facebook pages, one for each state, which together have nearly 35,000 members who will be asked to participate.
Organizers anticipate at least 10,000 students from across the country to join in the action to help pass H.R. 3221.
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U.S. PIRG, federation of state Public Interest Research Groups, is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest advocacy organization. ?For more information visit http://www.uspirg.org
For more information on Affordable Higher Education, visit http://www.uspirg.org/higher-education
