By: Charlotte Ferriolo and Tara Nyima
Did you know that over the past three years 43.6 million people struggled to repay student loan debt? These loans represent an impediment towards reaching one's highest potential. Many students work extremely hard to receive acceptance into prestigious universities, such as Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc... However, upon their acceptance letters, reality hits them. The reality being, prestigious universities typically cost an extravagant sum of money. Some take the financial risk, but later are forced to drop out due to financial pressure.
So, what can be done to remedy this crisis in education finance? Well, All Around GAME ((Great Affordability Made for Education) was created to tackle many of the issues students are facing to go to college. As they are currently working on passing their bill, they hope to expand to higher education through additional support in different ways.Their main focuses are: mandatory financial literacy education, expansion of financial aid and scholarships, and a student loan reliance program. The mandatory financial literacy education hopes by the year 2029, all public high schools shall require a half-credit financial course with an emphasis on college saving methods. The expansion of financial aid and scholarships involves an increase of 15 percent towards the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) threshold for Pell Grants (Federal Student Aid). From this, they estimate around an increase of 1 million prospective students to quality. As for a student loan reliance program, the bill aims to cover lowering federal loans at lower rates and a greater establishment of a college fund program.
As stated by Natalie Hefka, one of the authors of the bill, “These are the times where students are faced with the most stress. This bill is the right step into not only aiding students regarding their education, but it dispels the stress of student loans”. This shows many students, especially those who are teenagers, already deal with much stress regarding different aspects of life. Such as the stress of maintaining good grades, maintaining a good social life, participating in athletic programs, clubs, tests, and managing all of these factors along with more depending on one’s situation. So, the pressure of college tuition is expected to be alleviated according to the authors of the bill.