Under Secretary Ted Mitchell will give opening remarks at the second of two public hearings convened by the U.S. Department of Education to gather input on extending the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) repayment option to more borrowers, as announced in a Presidential Memorandum on June 9, 2014.
Mitchell's remarks will be at 1 p.m. PT on Tuesday, Nov. 4, in Anaheim, California.
In the June 9 Memorandum, President Obama called for extending PAYE to allow additional borrowers to cap their federal student loan payments at 10 percent of their income, regardless of when they took out their loans. No existing repayment options would be affected, and the new repayment plan will also aim to include new features to target the plan to struggling borrowers. The Presidential Memorandum states a goal of making the expanded repayment option available to borrowers by Dec. 31, 2015.
The public hearing will take place from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. PT. Registered participants are given first priority but walk-in attendees are welcome and invited to comment, as time permits.
As required by law for all significant changes to the federal student aid programs, the Department will soon convene a negotiated rulemaking committee to develop proposed regulations for the new repayment proposal. The two public hearings – this one and one held on Oct. 23 in Washington, D.C. — seek to gather feedback on the issues that will inform the committee's proposed agenda.
The committee, which will be comprised of representatives of the affected parties, aims to reach consensus on a draft regulation. Those draft provisions will then be published in the Federal Register for public comment, prior to issuing a final regulation.
The Obama Administration has made historic investments to increase the maximum Pell grant award by $1,000, create the $2,500 American Opportunity Tax Credit, and enact effective student loan reforms that eliminated subsidies to banks and reinvested in America's students and families to make college more affordable. These initiatives are targeted at expanding college opportunity and ensuring families have the finances they need to succeed in their college pursuits and to help reach the President's goal for America to lead the world in college graduation.