February 6, 2008
Act Now! House Vote on HEA Tomorrow
Leaders of the House Education and Labor Committee announced that they expect the House to vote on the College Opportunity and Affordability Act (H.R. 4137) on Thursday, Feb. 7. The legislation reauthorizes the Higher Education Act (HEA), which sets financial aid policy for students for the next five years. The bill provides loan forgiveness for national need occupations, clarifies appropriate financial aid professional/lender relationships, simplifies the financial aid application process, attempts to slow rising college costs, and creates a host of reporting requirements for higher education institutions. The loan forgiveness provisions would directly benefit social workers by allowing a person with a degree in social work or a related field, and who is employed by a public or private child welfare agency, to have part of his or her college loans forgiven. For each year of work, $2,000 would be forgiven, up to a maximum of $10,000 over five years.
The loan forgiveness covers 13 areas of national need, including qualified Head Start, child care and preschool teachers; some teachers in high-need fields; and some mental health professionals. The loan provisions would apply only after the law is passed, not for previous years worked, and would be provided on a first-come, first-served basis. If approved by the House, negotiators from the House and Senate would then reconcile the differences between the two chambers' versions of the bill. The House and Senate must then approve the negotiated version of the bill and send it to the president to be signed into law. Currently the House version includes the loan forgiveness language while the Senate version (S. 1642) does not.
Important note: We want to emphasize that the College Opportunity and Affordability Act is not the same as the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 (H.R. 2669) which provides loan forgiveness for social workers in public child or family service agencies, nonprofit, military, and other areas for eligible 120 loan payments made after Oct 1, 2007 http://www.socialworkers.org/advocacy/updates/2007/092107.asp The legislation was signed into law by the President in September. While similar in focus, H.R. 4137 is broader in scope and we need your help in getting this important legislation passed.
Action Needed
H.R. 4137 is slated for a House floor vote tomorrow. Two important actions by you can make the difference in moving things forward. First, please call your House Representative at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to support H.R. 4137 with the loan forgiveness provisions. Second, contact your Senator at the same number and encourage them to include the House loan forgiveness provision in S.1642, the Senate’s current version of HEA. In both cases let your member know that you are a constituent and social worker requesting their support for passage of these important bills with the loan forgiveness provisions for social workers. Thanks for your advocacy.
Nancy McFall Jean, NASW Lobbyist, Government Relations Department
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