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On Monday, Gov. Scott Walker announced his college affordability legislative package with great fanfare and is promoting it on a whirlwind tour of the state, almost as if he was campaigning for re-election. We welcome a serious look at the financial challenges faced by students, their families and those burdened by student loans, but Walker’s initiative falls short of a better plan offered by legislative Democrats: the Higher Ed, Lower Debt bill authored by state Rep. Cory Mason (D-Racine) and state Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay). The bill has languished in the Legislature since 2013 but Republicans finally granted it a Senate hearing in November 2015, a bipartisan rarity in this politically polarized statehouse. We think the Legislature should take up this bill and pass it instead of following Walker’s lead.
Although Walker’s initiative includes some worthwhile ideas, such as allowing borrowers to deduct student loan interest from their tax payments, it totally ignores a major burden on student loan holders: student loans, unlike mortgages and car loans, cannot be refinanced when interest rates fall. The Higher Ed, Lower Debt bill fixes that problem. Student loan borrowers would still pay off their obligations; they just wouldn’t be gouged by high interest payments. Hansen, in a statement criticizing Walker’s plan, said, “Anything short of [allowing student loans to be refinanced] is to leave Wisconsin borrowers at the mercy of Wall Street and the student loan giants.”
We think the comprehensive Higher Ed, Lower Debt bill is far preferable to Walker’s initiative and urge the Legislature to take it up and free the more than 815,000 Wisconsin residents from their unfairly high interest rates on their student loan payments.
