U.S. House of Representative seal U.S. Representative Allyson Y. Schwartz
Representing the 13th Congressional District of Pennsylvania
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 16, 2009
 CONTACT:  Rachel Magnuson, 202-225-6111
 
Schwartz Votes for Historic Investment in Higher Education
 
Washington, D.C. - Earlier today, U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz (PA-13) helped to pass the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA).  This important initiative makes major changes and improvements to the current federal student loan programs, saving the federal government almost $90 billion by making the student loan system more efficient, and reinvests most of those savings into important initiatives like increasing Pell grants for students and helping states to strengthen and improve their early education systems.
 
“The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act is the greatest federal investment in higher education ever made.  It will help stabilize our economy and ensure America is economically competitive in the future, even while demonstrating our commitment to fiscal responsibility by reducing the federal deficit by $10 billion,” said U.S. Rep. Schwartz.
 
SAFRA will end unnecessary bank subsidies for student loans, which will stabilize students’ access to loans in a way that helps students, colleges and universities make a smooth transition from the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) to the Direct Loan (DL) program.
 
Among the important initiatives this proposal pays for is an effort to provide funding for much-needed school modernization and repair – done in an environmentally, energy efficient manner – just as Congress supported earlier this year when the U.S. House of Representatives passed the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act.

A long-standing environmental advocate, Schwartz is proud that two of her initiatives to strengthen the aims of the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act – initiatives that had previously passed the House – were included as part of SAFRA.  Schwartz’s efforts in this area will help Job Corps participants and community college students gain practical work experience in the field of green building and green construction, and offer additional flexibility for schools to think creatively about greening efforts.  
 
An additional effort by Schwartz to emphasize the importance of financial literacy education was also passed by the House. Schwartz and her colleagues U.S. Rep. Jim Himes (CT-04) and U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (NY-04) offered an amendment that makes several common-sense changes to the bill that will emphasize and encourage strong support for financial literacy education for students – and importantly will reach students before they enter college, so that early financial planning and counseling can positively impact students’ view that college is possible, and so that students can develop sound fiscal habits that they will carry with them through college and beyond.  The amendment has the support of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC), among others.

“As our country emerges from a recession that starkly exposed the need for good financial planning and fiscal responsibility, supporting financial literacy education is more important now than ever,” said Schwartz.  “The amendment I offered will support financial literacy education, strengthening the bill which addresses important issues of college affordability, including how students and their families pay for college.”

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