young

=fRepresentative Young- (Il-D)=



Representative Young

The Future America Begins Today


 * The Model Congress **
 * 1st Session **
 * Increase Federal Pell Grants to provide equal opportunity to all for a postsecondary school education **
 * In the Model Congress **
 * February 21, 2008 **
 * Sponsored by: Rep. Charlotte Young (IL) **
 * Cosponsored by: Rep. ZEIZTER (HI), Rep. ASHMAN (AK), Rep. SOOMRO (NY), Rep. ROBERT (CT), Sen. CONRAD (OR) the YLI Congressional Members **
 * A BILL **
 * To increase Federal Pell Grants to provide equal opportunity to all for a postsecondary school education **
 * **// Be it enacted by the Members of the YLI Congress //**
 * **// Of the United States of America in Congress assembled //**
 * ** SECTION 1. TITLE. **
 * ** This Act may be cited as the “Chance for America’s Future Bill of 2008” **
 * ** Sponsor Names: Rep. YOUNG (IL), Rep. ZEIZTER (HI), Rep. ASHMAN (AK), Rep. SOOMRO (NY), Rep. ROBERT (CT), Sen. CONRAD (OR) **
 * ** SECTION 2. PURPOSES **
 * ** The purpose is to provide an equal chance for capable and willing students to pursue careers they want without financial boundaries preventing them **
 * ** Increase the Federal Pell Grants—raise to 400 dollar minimum and 5,100 dollar maximum offered to recipients **
 * ** College provides opportunities for the future economy—without proper education that lead to jobs the economy will fail recipients **
 * ** SECTION 3. FINDINGS **
 * ** 400,000 students are capable of going to college each year but can’t afford it **
 * ** College costs and family income not balanced **
 * ** Cost of attending a public university has increased by 32% **
 * ** Cost of attending a private university has increased by 21% **
 * ** Family income has only gone up by 6% **
 * ** In 2006 the financial aid budget was cut by 12.5 billion dollars **
 * ** Bush promised that the maximum Pell Grant would rise to 5,100 dollars by 2011 but has been frozen at 4,050 dollars since the 03-2004 fiscal year **
 * In 2005-06, the maximum Pell grant covered one-third of the yearly cost of higher education at a public four-year institution; twenty years ago, it covered 60% of a student's cost of attendance
 * Without the federal money, families are receiving loans that have high interest rates putting them more into debt—60% of students receive loans
 * Student loan debt has increased from 7,633 dollars in 1992-1993 to 17,400 dollars 2003-2004
 * ** Pell Grants are only given in cases of extreme need—long process of evaluating how eligible possible recipients are **
 * ** Those citizens with college education make 1 million dollars more than those with just high school diplomas **
 * ** SECTION 4. ELIGIBILITY **
 * ** American citizens **
 * ** Undergraduates and vocational students pursuing their undergraduate degree **
 * ** Students must have GED, diploma, or show that they are capable of pursuing a college degree **
 * ** Undergraduates must be attending a postsecondary school that accepts Federal Pell Grants **
 * ** Students must fill out a FAFSA form to see how much money they need based on: **
 * ** Financial status of family (EFC) **
 * ** Number of members in family **
 * ** How many more students in family are planning on going to college **
 * ** How long the student is planning on studying **
 * ** The cost of attending the college **
 * ** SECTION 5. TERMS AND BENEFITS OF SERVICE. **
 * ** Raise taxes to provide the proper amount of money for the Pell Grants **
 * ** Raise the maximum Pell Grant offered to be 5,011 dollars and keep minimum Pell Grant at 400 dollars **
 * ** The Pell Grant will help all undergraduates until graduation with the buying of text books, residence etc **
 * ** The college will either credit the grant to the student’s college account or pay the student directly through a check **
 * ** Students are paid once per term **


 * __ BACKGROUND INFORMATION __**
 * __ What is your issue all about in general terms? __
 * More money to teachers—leads to better education
 * Better teaching facilities—buildings, classrooms, more space
 * More supplies—textbooks, pencils
 * FINAL GOAL: higher education and competitiveness in the American public
 * Would lead to less crime
 * Would lead to more jobs—helping economy
 * Brighter students means furthering the science discoveries—stem cell, cancer etc
 * Everyone should have an access to a college education
 * College education—essential
 * __ What’s the history of your issue? When did this issue first surface? What current events or developments have affected your issue? __
 * History of Department of Education
 * Department of Education created in 1980 (1)
 * 71.5 billion dollar budget focused around: (1)
 * Distributing financial aid to students
 * Collecting information on American schools and assessing the data
 * Getting national attention for key issues involving education
 * Allowing equal education to all and ensuring no racism occurs
 * Involves many councils (1)
 * Student college loans history
 * Student loans often cause students debt after many years
 * Federal Student Aid is available to students at participating schools and who have all the financial qualities of someone who needs financial assistance (9)
 * Can come in the forms of Grants, Loans, or work study programs (9)
 * Different types of loans: (9)
 * FFEL loan: private lenders provide federally guaranteed funds
 * Direct loan: eligible students get money from the federal government at participating schools
 * With Federal Perkins Loans: given to students who demonstrate the most needs at participating schools (9)
 * Different types of grants: (9)
 * Federal Pell Grants: designed for low income or middle class undergraduates
 * Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant: Federal student aid is provided for students gives funds to schools who eventually give grants to students
 * Academic Competitiveness Grant: for full time undergraduate students—the amount that is given goes up every year
 * SMART grant: gives up to 4,000 dollars to 3rd or 4th year students who are studying math, science, technology, engineering or foreign language that will help with national security
 * The Department of Education gives 80 billion dollars to students in forms of grant, loans and work study programs (1)
 * They have to take a test to see how eligible they are
 * For different loans there are “grace periods” that either give you 6 months of 9 months to repay your loan back to the government (1)
 * You have a choice of repaying your loan if you have an FFEL loan or a direct loan (1)
 * With Federal Perkins Loans you have to pay back in 10 years (1)
 * If there is difficulty paying back your loan you may qualify for a forbearance, deferment or another form of payment release (1)
 * Deferment
 * Suspension of payments in times of economic hardship or reenrolling in school (1)
 * Military Service Deferment
 * In September 2007, if you are called into the military to fight then your loans are temporarily deferred (1)
 * Forbarance
 * Allows a temporary suspension of money owed due to economic hardship or financial hardships (1)
 * Unlike deferment, includes interest (1)
 * Lasts up to three years (1)
 * Current Events
 * Bush made the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002
 * NCLB reauthorized in 2007
 * No Child Left Behind Requirements (2)
 * Qualified teachers
 * Had state’s certification
 * Has a bachelor’s degree
 * Has subject matter expertise
 * New teachers who are qualified
 * Must take a subject test and demonstrate basic skills for elementary education
 * Must have a good knowledge of subject they are teaching by either getting their masters, or taking a subject test
 * Student testing
 * Progress of public school students will be graded in math and reading in grade 3-8 at the end of each school year
 * If public schools want federal funds, they must require testing
 * Scientifically based research
 * Has scientific research conducted to prove results of NCLB
 * Public school choice
 * Students who feel that their school is unqualified should have a choice to go to a better school
 * Sept. 7, 2007—bill passed to help aid college students with college tuitions (5)
 * Pell Grant—grant given to 5 million students to help with college—is upped by 490 dollars and will eventually become 1,090 in the next 5 years
 * Used to be only 4,310 dollars given to students, eventually it will becoming 5,400 dollars
 * The money that is given to the students aren’t given loans, but rather pay the government back based on their income
 * Still paying back money, but will not make you go broke
 * HERA—signed by George Bush in February 8, 2006 that cut the federal costs of education—taking 12 billion dollars away from student loans (6)
 * __ Where do the two major political parties tend to stand on your issue? __
 * Republican (3)
 * Wants to improve education for students who are behind
 * Focus on reading for students who are below their estimated reading level
 * Making mathematics and science more dominant—especially to those who are below average
 * Furthering the achievements made in accelerated programs
 * Democrats (4)
 * Wants to expand educational opportunity for hopeful college students
 * Wants to make a college tuition tax that is deductible
 * Wants to expand Pell interest rates
 * Cut student loan interests
 * Will all eventually improve education
 * **__ What current legislation is under consideration in Congress on your issue? Refer to specific bills by name. What is the bill title? Who sponsored it? What is the bill’s purpose? __**
 * ** College Opportunity Act 2007 (7) **
 * ** Goal: to make college more affordable through increased federal Pell grants and providing more affordable student loans **
 * ** Introduced in the Senate and Sponsored by: Senator Harry Reid—NV **
 * Referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and pension
 * ** College student relief Act 2007 (8) **
 * ** Goal: wants to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965—cut the interest rates of loans given to FFEL and DL students **
 * ** Sponsored: Representative George Miller—CA **
 * ** Higher Education Reconciliation Act of 2005 (9) **
 * ** Cuts 12.7 billion aid to students in federal grants **
 * ** Raises interest rates **** 6.8% to 8.5% **
 * **__ Background on College Education and Pell Grants __**
 * ** Cost of college has increased 32 percent-public college **
 * ** Raised 21 percent for private college **
 * ** Family income has increased only by 6 percent **
 * ** Pell grants are failing—only giving 30% instead of 51% now **
 * ** College costs at least 26,000 dollars per year **
 * ** Without federal help, the students have to look to loans from schools –60% of students **
 * ** Students are in debt with the government by 19,000 dollars **
 * ** 400,000 **** students each year are capable to go to college but they don’t **
 * ** Interest rates rose by 7% **
 * ** College is important **
 * ** Allowing more people to get employed **
 * ** Get higher earnings **
 * ** Getting into the middle class **
 * ** People with college education get more than 1 million dollars more than those with high school degrees **
 * ** Pell grants are only given in cases of extreme need **
 * ** Pell grants vary from year to year depending on the amount of money Congress places the budget **



Work Cited: __ U.S. ____ Department of Education __. 15 February 2008. <[|http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml>.] (1) “No Child Left Behind Act”. __Wikipedia__. 15 February 2008. 15 February 2008. <[|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind>.(2)] __ GOP.com __. 2003. 15 February 2008. . (3) “Economic Prosperity and Educational Excellence”. __The Democratic Party__. 2008. 15 February 2008. <[|http://www.democrats.org/a/national/economic_growth/>.] (4) “Biggest Victory for Student Aid in more than a Decade”. __Rock the Vote: MTV__. 7 September 2007. 15 February 2008. <[|http://www.blog.rockthevote.com/labels/student%20loans.html>.] (5) “The Higher Education Reconciliation Act of 2005: HERA”. __Texas__ __Guaranteed Student Loan Program__ __(TG)__. 2008. 15 February 2008. <[|http://www.tgslc.org/hea/hera.cfm>.] (6) http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c110:2:./temp/~c110h9VWDq:: (7) http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c110:3:./temp/~c110jN6VzT:: (8) “Office of Federal Student Aid”. __Wikipedia__. 2008. 15 February 2008. <[|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Federal_Student_Aid>.] (9)

Very Cool! http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/opinion/15brooks.html?hp