ENZI TO SENATE LEADERSHIP: HIGHER EDUCATION REFORM BILLS MUST MOVE TOGETHER

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today called on Senate Democratic leadership to ensure that both higher education bills that the HELP Committee approved yesterday be considered together by the full Senate in July. “Yesterday, the HELP Committee took the first step toward approving two key higher education bills that will make college more affordable and help protect students from burdensome debt,” Enzi said. “We must debate these higher education bills together, in a comprehensive manner, and not simply kick the can down the road and abandon the important reforms included in the reauthorization bill. A piecemeal approach to advancing higher education legislation is inadequate.” Enzi cautioned Senate Democratic leadership that they will be doing only half the job if they allow the Higher Education Access bill, which includes reforms to student lending programs, to move forward without the companion Higher Education Amendments bill, which contains needed simplification of the student aid application process, increases in Pell Grants and changes to ensure that Pell Grants are available year round, and takes steps to improve the financial literacy of America’s students. “We cannot just make cuts in the student lending markets,” Enzi said. “We need to pass the necessary reforms of the Higher Education Act reauthorization bill to ensure that these changes benefit students.”“This is the first major overhaul of the Higher Education Act since 1998, and we must have ample time for a meaningful debate on these two bills when they come to the floor of the Senate,” Enzi said.The Higher Education Amendments of 2007 contain a number of key provisions from education bills introduced by Senator Enzi, including: • The Student Information Means a Positive Loan Experience (SIMPLE) ActCo-sponsored by Senators Alexander (R-TN), Burr (R-NC), Isakson (R-GA), Murkowski (R-AK) and Allard (R-CO), the SIMPLE Act clarifies and simplifies student loan repayment plans by requiring lenders to provide students with better and clearer information about their loans when students are preparing to don their caps and gowns and enter the world. • The Student Financial Aid Data Privacy Protection ActCo-sponsored by Senators Alexander (R-TN), Burr (R-NC), Isakson (R-GA), Roberts (R- KS), Murkowski (R-AK) and Allard (R-CO), the “Student Financial Aid Data Privacy Protection Act” requires the establishment of privacy protocols for the Department of Education’s National Student Loan Data System, a database that contains personal financial information about student borrowers and their families and is used by students, schools, lenders, and guaranty agencies. • The Student Loan Accountability and Disclosure Reform ActCo-sponsored by Senators Alexander (R-TN), Allard (R-CO), Burr (R-NC), Isakson (R- GA), Hatch (R-UT), Roberts (R-KS) and Murkowski (R-AK), the “Student Loan Accountability and Disclosure Reform Act,” establishes a Code of Conduct for institutions of higher education to ensure that agreements reached with lenders and guaranty agencies benefit students, prohibits the offering of any premiums, payments, prizes, and tuition payments as inducements for loans, and prohibits the sending of unsolicited electronic mailings to potential borrowers. ###