Sen. Ashley Moody has joined a bipartisan effort on Capitol Hill to make would-be college students more aware of the financial obligations they’ll be facing when they arrive for classes on campus with student loans.
Moody announced she, with five other U.S. Senators, is co-sponsoring a bill called the Student Transparency for Understanding Decisions in Education Net Terms (STUDENT) Act. She’s being joined by their fellow Senators, Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar, Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, Maggie Hassan, a New Hampshire Democrat, and Joni Ernst, also an Iowa Republican, who helped draft the proposed legislation.
The bill advocates for more transparency not only for students but also for their families before they take out federal student loans. The STUDENT Act aims to provide detailed estimates of the total amount of loans plus interest and the debt load college students could take on. The measure also would require outlines of the outstanding principal that students would incur when they take out education loans.
Moody acknowledged that many students don’t understand what kind of debt they’re in for when they sign up for student loans that don’t have to be repaid until after they graduate.
“What some young people may not understand before attending college or university is the full cost of repaying those student loans, which can add up to thousands more dollars than the principal due to interest payments,” Moody said in a news release. “Students and families should understand the full weight of this financial decision, and I am proud to co-sponsor legislation to bring more transparency to this process and empower students to make the best choice for their financial future.”
Ernst said college students and their families have, for far too long, faced too much uncertainty when they get into debt with student loans.
“The only time students should be given a cheat sheet is to reveal the true cost of college tuition. My bipartisan bill will pull back the curtain and give our students and their families the tools they need to make the best decisions for their financial future,” Ernst said.
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