Novi Times

WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Haley Stevens (MI-11) introduced the Alleviating Intergenerational Debt (AID) Act On April 27, 2023. This first-of-its-kind legislation will expand financial aid opportunities for students whose parents are still chipping away at their own student debt. 

"The average American carries over $30,000 dollars in student debt," said Rep. Haley Stevens (MI-11). "Many have high school-aged children with dreams of going to college themselves. This leaves parents with the difficult choice of shouldering even more debt to help secure their children's futures. America's student loan debt crisis has become intergenerational, trapping families in a never-ending cycle. This cannot continue. I was inspired to craft and introduce this bill, the first of its kind, after a chance meeting with the Mason family in Hazel Park. Sending your child off to college should be a happy and exciting time for a family, but instead, these hard-working parents were grappling with paying their student loans while trying to put a child through college. My AID Act will tackle the intergenerational debt crisis head-on and disrupt this vicious cycle."

“My wife and I wholeheartedly, 100%, support the Congresswoman's AID Act. Currently, I hold over $100,000 in student loan debt but we are also currently paying around $30,000 out of pocket for our daughter to attend MSU. That number will rise another $20,000 starting in the fall for our son to attend EMU. Neither of their FAFSA applications considered my student loan debt that will resume payments soon. As UAW workers, their school's tuition and room and board will absolutely put a strain on our household income even more but we're determined to not allow them to suffer the same consequences of student loan debt that I have. Hopefully, with this bill, some financial relief may soon come for us and many others,”Mr. Isaiah Mason, Hazel Park, Michigan.

“Rising college costs have created a challenging decision for students and families as they weigh the economic benefits of a college education against the prospect of long-term student loan debt,” said Mr. Ryan Fewins-Bliss, Executive Director, Michigan College Access Network. “This decision becomes even more fraught when parents and guardians are still managing their own student loan debt, which limits the opportunities available to the next generation. We believe every student deserves access to an affordable postsecondary education and that their dreams should not be deferred by their parents’ student loan debt. We applaud Rep. Stevens for introducing the Alleviating Intergenerational Debt Act to ensure those debts are considered when calculating students’ financial aid eligibility. Michigan College Access Network is proud to endorse this bill, and we hope to see more legislation like this that tackles systemic barriers to college access and affordability and moves Michigan closer to Sixty by 30.”

Federal financial aid eligibility—as determined by filling out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)—will soon depend in part on where a student lands on the Student Aid Index (SAI), in addition to several other factors including their year in school, their enrollment status, and the cost of attendance at the school they will be attending.

The SAI is calculated according to a formula established by law. A family's taxed and untaxed income, assets, and benefits (such as unemployment or Social Security) are all considered in the formula.

The Alleviating Intergenerational Debt (AID) Act expands eligibility for federal student aid by amending the SAI formula to include outstanding parental student loan debt in the items considered in the calculation. Financial aid administrators will be given a more accurate picture of a family's actual financial need and qualify more students for federal aid dollars by taking parental student loan debt into account when calculating SAI.

This legislation would:

1. Amend the SAI formula to create a new allowance against income for parents of dependent students who have student loan debt. This would mirror the current allowances for federal income and payroll taxes.
2. Mandate an annual report from the Department of Education on the number and percentage of students who claimed this allowance and the average amount of the allowance. It would also direct the Department to disaggregate these numbers into students who did and did not qualify for a Pell Grant.

Rep. Haley Stevens is a member of the House Education and Workforce Committee. 

Original source can be found here.