April 26, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Somalia: Politics: Congress: Loans: Student Loans: The Post Crescent: College students willing to shoot for the STAR, a proposed federal Student Aid Reward Act, could see significant boosts in financial aid, says U.S. Rep. Tom Petri said. Petri is co-sponsoring a congressional bill that would establish the STAR program, enabling an increase of billions of dollars in direct student aid over the next 10 years.

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Somalia: Special Report: Tom Petri: Tom Petri: Archived Stories: April 26, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Somalia: Politics: Congress: Loans: Student Loans: The Post Crescent: College students willing to shoot for the STAR, a proposed federal Student Aid Reward Act, could see significant boosts in financial aid, says U.S. Rep. Tom Petri said. Petri is co-sponsoring a congressional bill that would establish the STAR program, enabling an increase of billions of dollars in direct student aid over the next 10 years.

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-151-196-181-108.balt.east.verizon.net - 151.196.181.108) on Thursday, April 28, 2005 - 1:52 am: Edit Post

College students willing to shoot for the STAR, a proposed federal Student Aid Reward Act, could see significant boosts in financial aid, says U.S. Rep. Tom Petri said. Petri is co-sponsoring a congressional bill that would establish the STAR program, enabling an increase of billions of dollars in direct student aid over the next 10 years.

College students willing to shoot for the STAR, a proposed federal Student Aid Reward Act, could see significant boosts in financial aid, says U.S. Rep. Tom Petri said. Petri is co-sponsoring a congressional bill that would establish the STAR program, enabling an increase of billions of dollars in direct student aid over the next 10 years.

College students willing to shoot for the STAR, a proposed federal Student Aid Reward Act, could see significant boosts in financial aid, says U.S. Rep. Tom Petri said. Petri is co-sponsoring a congressional bill that would establish the STAR program, enabling an increase of billions of dollars in direct student aid over the next 10 years.

Petri, Congress consider college tuition help

Bill would cut bank subsidies for student loans

By Steve Wideman
Post-Crescent staff writer

APPLETON — College students willing to shoot for the STAR, a proposed federal Student Aid Reward Act, could see significant boosts in financial aid, U.S. Rep. Tom Petri said Monday.

Petri, R-Fond du Lac, is co-sponsoring a congressional bill that would establish the STAR program, enabling an increase of billions of dollars in direct student aid over the next 10 years.

He said the STAR program would use savings from subsidies paid to financial institutions under one program to increase student aid in another.

“The STAR act will help students at no cost to taxpayers,” Petri said.

Any program that helps students meet skyrocketing tuition costs is important, said Jeff Herzig, president of the Oshkosh Student Association at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

“We’ve had double-digit tuition increases the past couple of years, including 37 percent on the past biennium and about 10 percent in the current budget cycle,” Herzig said. “We are looking for ways to pay our tuition and this would be another option.”

Petri and fellow Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., along with Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., are leading a bipartisan effort to establish the STAR program.

Currently, Petri said, the federal government spends upward of $17 billion a year subsidizing interest rates for lenders providing student loans through the Family Federal Education Loan (FFEL) program. The subsidies pay the difference between market interest rates and federally approved interest rates for student loans.

The U.S. Department of Education also provides loans to students and parents through its Direct Loan program.

The STAR program would switch college loans from the FFEL to the Direct Loan program, eliminating interest subsidies to banks and private lenders.

Schools electing to use the least-expensive program would receive half the savings the program generates. Schools would be required to use the savings to increase aid to students receiving federal Pell grants, the government’s largest college grant program, or graduate students with financial need.

Petri said a study by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that if the Direct Loan Program increased its share of loan volume from 25 to 40 percent, it would save taxpayers $12.3 billion over 10 years. If Direct Loans were 100 percent of loan volumes, taxpayers would save more than $60 billion in 10 years.

“For UWO students, the STAR program would provide $1.8 million in additional student loan money,” Petri said. He said that’s enough to give each Oshkosh student receiving a Pell grant an extra $800 in loans above the grant maximum of $4,050.

UWO Chancellor Rich-ard Wells said Monday that upon passage of the STAR act, the Oshkosh campus would make the switch to Direct Loans because of the direct benefit to students.

“The STAR act creates greater access to higher education and will ease the burden of college costs on many low- and moderate-income students,” Herzig said.

Steve Wideman can be reached at 920-993-1000, ext. 302, or by e-mail at swideman@postcrescent.com





When this story was posted in April 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:


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April 24, 2005: This Week's Top Stories Date: April 24 2005 No: 576 April 24, 2005: This Week's Top Stories
PC says program in Uzbekistan is fully operational 23 Apr
Business is booming for bi-lingual RPCV's law practice 22 Apr
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Alejandro Toledo has managed to stay in power 21 Apr
Dale A. Olsen wins Guggenheim fellowship for music 21 Apr
Dr. William E. Hurwitz sentenced to 25 years in prison 21 Apr
John and Karen Lewis build eco-tourist hotel in Costa Rica 21 Apr
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Lena Medoyeff is a businessperson who makes clothes 20 Apr
Forty-one in Congress sign PC funding letter 19 Apr
James River Park manager Ralph White back to work 19 Apr
Pat Waak tells Dems to keep eyes on the prize 18 Apr
Al Kamen says First Fan Knows Baseball 18 Apr
Broughton Coburn tells his tales of Nepal 13 Apr
Maria Shriver talks about her father 12 Apr
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April 24, 2005:  Special Events Date: April 24 2005 No: 574 April 24, 2005: Special Events
Jody Olsen speaks at Ivy College on May 6
RPCV Kent Island Family Weekend on May 6 - 8
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Bush proclaims National Volunteer Week
RPCVs: Post your stories or press releases here for inclusion next week.

Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000  strong Date: April 2 2005 No: 543 Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong
170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community.


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Story Source: The Post Crescent

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Somalia; Politics; Congress; Loans; Student Loans

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