Institutes of Higher Education Must Counsel Students Regarding Student Loan Debt

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the growing student loan debt in our Nation. Despite efforts by President Biden and the Democrats to forgive student loans, they are still a major financial commitment and should be treated as such.

Before taking out Federal student loans, proper counseling for students should be required. We must ensure that our students are equipped with the guidance needed to make an informed decision and that they understand the process through which they pay these loans back.

This week I reintroduced the Know Before You Owe Federal Student Loan Act with Representatives Feenstra, Hinson, Nunn, and Guest to require institutes of higher education to counsel students before any Federal loans are disbursed. This counseling would also require students to manually enter the exact dollar amount of funding requested and require that students receive regular loan statements throughout their undergraduate career.

If we can help our students understand the process by which they receive Federal students loans and the interest, we will be one step closer to helping to relieve them of their debt through their career choices--unlike President Biden's loan which claims to erase these loans.

Unfortunately, we can't just erase loans taken out. They must be paid back, just like a car loan or a mortgage. Erasing would only transfer the debt to other hardworking taxpayers.

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