Sherman College Issues Response to H.R. 4508, PROSPER Act

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” next_background_color=”#000000″ _builder_version=”3.0.105″ border_radii=”|2px|2px|2px|2px” box_shadow_style=”preset2″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.0.105″ background_image=”https://www.sherman.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/MetallicLogo_trans4-1.png” background_size=”initial” custom_padding=”|2.3%||2.3%”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.105″ background_layout=”light” border_style=”solid” header_2_text_align=”center”]

Sherman College Issues Response to H.R. 4508, PROSPER Act

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.105″ background_layout=”light”]

While H.R. 4508, the Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform (PROSPER) Act offers some promising changes to higher education, the proposed legislation has also drawn much criticism in the higher education and financial aid arenas. Sherman College of Chiropractic has issued the following response to the PROSPER Act, and President Edwin Cordero, D.C., has contacted legislative representatives to share these serious concerns in writing:

On behalf of Sherman College of Chiropractic in Spartanburg, SC, I am writing to you regarding the concerns we have regarding H.R. 4508, the Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform (PROSPER) Act. While we see certain beneficial changes in this legislation, we strongly believe this bill has a greater potential to harm graduate and non-traditional students as they pursue their higher education goals. In fact, H.R. 4508 includes several provisions that would be very damaging to graduate students, reducing or eliminating the few remaining sources of aid available to them.

Specific areas of concern for graduate and professional students in programs like Sherman College’s Doctor of Chiropractic program include the following:

• • Elimination of Federal PLUS loans for graduate students
    Professional degree students like ours tend to take out the greatest amount of student loans and are less able to fund their education with earned income, according to the report, Financing Graduate and Professional Education: How Students Pay. PLUS loans play a vital role to graduate students at Sherman College: more than half of our student body relies on the Grad PLUS Loan for living expenses. The rigorous daily schedule of our doctor of chiropractic program does not allow time for students to work beyond a few hours each week to earn funds for housing, transportation, and food. This bill would limit the ability of graduate students to borrow through affordable loan programs and could force current students to seek private education loans from lenders that are not governed by the Department of Education, resulting in higher interest rates and the potential loss of federal repayment benefits.
  • Elimination of loan forgiveness programs, including time- and occupation-based forgiveness programs
    The current provisions that allow for loan forgiveness after 20-25 years are vital in protecting borrowers from repaying a loan in perpetuity. Further, the elimination of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program provides an incentive for talented and dedicated graduates to enter and remain in public service by forgiving their student loans after 120 qualifying payments. This program encourages students to commit to careers in public service work without fear that their student loan payments will follow them for decades. Instead of eliminating the program, we agree with the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) that placing a cap on the maximum amount of forgiveness combined with proportional forgiveness may ensure that students are discouraged from over-borrowing while still retaining an important benefit for public service workers.
  • Elimination of graduate student eligibility for Federal Work-Study programs
    Currently, 53 percent of Sherman College students participate in the Federal Work-Study Program; these students work 4-5 hours per week in various departments on campus. This program allows students to earn funds through a form of self-help aid rather than borrowing funds. Eliminating Work-Study programs would remove one of the few forms of financial aid available to graduate students and force students into more loan debt.
  • Increased complexity in more frequent mandated disbursements and mandated annual counseling
    We agree with NASFAA that more frequent disbursements should be an option for schools, but not a mandate. As an institution, it is our belief that we should be a help, not a hindrance, in ensuring that students are able to successfully budget their federal student aid funds. Frequent disbursements may place a hardship on students’ abilities to manage their expenses, particularly their ability to honor housing leases. While undergraduate students living on campus might be minimally impacted by weekly disbursements (as they are only dealing with the college or university itself), Sherman College students would be greatly impacted because they are contractually bound by agreements with entities off campus. Mandating that aid be disbursed on a weekly or monthly basis would also burden college financial aid staff with additional tasks associated with monitoring and maintaining compliance. In addition, we feel that mandated annual counseling could be overwhelming and burdensome for our students. We would support the authority for institutions to mandate additional counseling at their discretion.

While there are promising changes signaled in this legislation reauthorizing the Higher Education Act (including the elimination of origination fees and the streamlining of repayment options), we have reason to believe this bill has great potential to hurt non-traditional students, largely made up of working parents, veterans, and adults. We urge you to voice these concerns regarding the PROSPER Act with us. Should you have any specific questions regarding Sherman College of Chiropractic and how H.R. 4508 may impact our students, I would welcome a discussion with you or a representative of your office. Please feel free to contact me at 800-849-8771, ext. 227, or ecordero@sherman.edu. We welcome the opportunity to work with you on ways to improve this bill for students and families.

Sincerely,

Edwin Cordero, D.C.
President

If you have any questions about PROSPER or financial aid at Sherman College, please contact Director of Financial Aid Kendra Strange at kstrange@sherman.edu or 578-8770, ext. 245.

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”off” specialty=”off” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.105″ background_layout=”light” header_3_font=”|600|||||||” header_3_text_align=”center”]

Response from Senator Lindsey Graham

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.0.105″ src=”https://www.sherman.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/PROSPERact_LindseyGrahamResponse.png” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” align=”center” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” show_bottom_space=”on” border_radii=”|2px|2px|2px|2px” box_shadow_style=”preset3″ /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”off” specialty=”off” prev_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.49″ background_position_1=”top_left” background_repeat_1=”no-repeat” background_position_2=”top_left” background_repeat_2=”no-repeat” background_position_3=”top_left” background_repeat_3=”no-repeat”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=”3.0.49″ in_same_term=”off” hide_prev=”off” hide_next=”on” border_style=”solid” border_color=”#0c71c3″ title_font=”|on|||” title_font_size=”16px” show_prev=”on” show_next=”off” /][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=”3.0.49″ in_same_term=”off” hide_prev=”on” hide_next=”off” border_style=”solid” border_color=”#0c71c3″ title_font=”|on|||” title_font_size=”16px” show_prev=”off” show_next=”on” /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]