Essay
The bill being proposed is a bill that could help students get into colleges and avoid financial ruin of student loan debt and help students in low to middle income families.
There is evidence that students who attend college with student loans have a more difficult time with their finances. From the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the amount of dollars of student loans owned is roughly 1.774 trillion dollars(1). Covered by Lendedu.com, the total amount is nearly three times the amount during the great recession in 2007, but that’s not all. Due to student loans, the amount of new entrepreneurs from 20-34 has dropped from 34% to 27% between 1996 and 2019. Homeownership is also a cause for concern with student loans; it is shown that the more debt from student loans grows, the harder it seems to achieve homeownership(2). The causes of student loan debt are big, but so are the tuition of many colleges.
College tuition and fees have been rising as time progresses. From the College Board, in table CP-2, within our decade,14-15 to 24-25, the tuition and fees of Private Nonprofit four-year colleges, in current dollar value, have increased 38.5% from $31,280 to $43,350. In the same table, Public four-year tuition and fees increased by 26.9% from $9,150 to $11,610. Looking more local, the University of Minnesota: Twin Cities, a Public four-year, in-state students tuition and fees increased by 27.5% from $13,626 to $17,370, meanwhile out-of-state tuition and fees increased by 84.5% from $20,876 to $38,518, nearly doubling a decade ago(3). Evidence from both student loans and college tuitions and fees show a need for some sort of support for college attendance.
The bill being proposed is an attempt to support students who are of low income and looking to go to college or higher education. The student must be eligible to receive a state grant award and is planning or enrolled into a Minnesota state college. If the student is eligible, the amount will be equal to: the amount of a federal Pell Grant of which the student is eligible for; the amount of the state grant; the amount of any other state or federal gift aids; the sum of all institutional grants, scholarships, tuition waivers, and tuition remission amount; and the sum of Tribal or private grants or scholarships. Theses would be multiplied by: 100% if the student‘s family reports a gross income of less than $100,000; 75% if the student’s family reports a gross income is between $100,000 to $125,000; 50% if the student‘s family reports a gross income between $125,000 to $150,000, or 0 percent if the student’s family reports a gross income of over $150,000. Eligible students are encouraged to apply for other sources of financial aid.
(1)College Board. “Trends in College Pricing 2018 – Research – College Board.” Research, 7 June 2019, research.collegeboard.org/trends/college-pricing.
(2)Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. “FRED Economic Data.” Stlouisfed.org, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 2024, fred.stlouisfed.org/.
(3)Porter, T. J. “How Student Loan Debt Can Impact Your Life.” LendEDU, 4 May 2021, lendedu.com/blog/impact-of-student-loan-debt/.