Rebecca Delaney talks with a higher-education expert about student-loan reform:
Most people know the final health-care battle will play out in the Senate budget reconciliation process, but there's another key Obama administration goal whose fate depends on the arcane process: student-loan reform. In September, the House passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), a bill that would kill subsidies for private lenders, expand the federal direct-lending program, and channel the money saved into bolstered Pell grants for low-income students. Because further delay could doom SAFRA, its success will likely require bundling it with health care and passing it through reconciliation -- and that might not be easy.
What will it take, and why does it matter? The Prospect talked to Pedro de la Torre III, advocacy senior associate and higher-education expert with Campus Progress, about SAFRA and the fight to improve students' access to affordable education.
