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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 17, 2014 04:41 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Rob Teplitz |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | STEM Higher Education Loan Program (STEM HELP) |
| In the near future, we plan on again introducing legislation that we hope will be a meaningful step in addressing the student debt load that is crushing our college graduates. In the past decade, Pennsylvania’s funding for higher education has declined and leveled off; meanwhile, tuition and student debt has continued to increase. Parents and high school students must determine if the investment of higher education is worth the future monthly loan payments, especially as some students will enter their repayment period at a time of high unemployment. According to the Institute of College Access and Success, the average debt load for Pennsylvania graduates is the third highest in the country, averaging around $29,400 and going up about $1,000 per year. Our legislation would completely pay for a student’s tuition when they attend a Pennsylvania institution of higher education while participating in an approved Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Program. This program, called the STEM Higher Education Loan Program (HELP), is similar to Oregon’s “Pay it Forward” tuition plan, which allows students to go to college for free in exchange for agreeing to pay back the state a percentage of their future earnings over a period of time after graduation. The students must also agree to stay in Pennsylvania for a short period of time after graduation. The initial funding for STEM HELP will be the borrowing of $50,000,000 which shall be submitted as a question to the electors as a statewide referendum. This income-based payment system will help eliminate the up-front payment of tuition and fees, will ensure that monthly payments are manageable and help reduce student loan default. In addition, the repayment back into the program will provide the next generational cohort of students the same access. Finally, the program would help combat “brain drain” and ensure that the STEM knowledge that Pennsylvania taxpayers would be helping to develop will stay in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has some of the highest costs for public, private and community college education in the nation. Pennsylvania funds public higher education at approximately 50 percent of the national average. In Pennsylvania, an estimated 71 percent of students graduate with a debt, with the average of $32,258 per student. In this session, this bill is part of the multi-faceted College Access Plan (CAP). CAP is a comprehensive package of legislation designed to improve student access to higher education, reduce student debt and jump-start Pennsylvania's economy. This legislation was introduced during the 2013-2014 legislative session as SB 1433 and was co-sponsored by Senators Browne, Hughes, Costa, Smith, Schwank, Fontana, and Wozniak. It is critical that we find a fiscally sound way to support higher education and our future workforce. Therefore, we ask you to join us in co-sponsoring this legislation. |
Introduced as SB107