(1) x1 = 1 x2 = 2 x3 = 3 x4 = 4
AASCU's advocacy efforts in 2012 will focus on the theme of Delivering America's Promise in four broad policy arenas: Affordability, Access and Completion, Accountability and Competitiveness. AASCU will continue to promote public policy that honors long-standing commitments to the nation's students and their families. What follows are key public policy priorities for the association in the year ahead:
Advocate for sufficient funding to sustain the value of Pell Grant awards by ensuring an appropriations base of $4,860 given the escalating demand for awards. This amount will ensure the path of predictable and continuous growth laid out by President Obama as realized through the passage of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act.
◆ Focus any restructuring of Pell Grant Program eligibility, in large measure, on income, since the program is fundamentally a financially-based access program.
◆ Ensure that the Department of Education delivers high quality service through the Direct Loan Program process, especially with regard to adequate and timely information, early outreach to delinquent borrowers and more accommodating recovery efforts for borrowers in default.
Encourage the Department of Education to promptly contact delinquent borrowers in the Direct Loan Program, as well as borrowers whose loans were directly or indirectly purchased by the federal government, to avoid default. The department should put these borrowers in an appropriate repayment plan, including Income Based Repayment (IBR) and Income Contingent Repayment (ICR), and set up special handling for those borrowers who have recurring repayment problems.
Encourage the Department of Education to utilize all necessary federal and institutional sources to maintain contact with borrowers during the six-month post-graduation grace period so that they can successfully enter repayment. According to department data, lack of up-to-date contact information is the major cause of loan default.