Two Southern Nevada Colleges to Participate in Education Department Study on School Loans
Washington, DC,
December 15, 2016
December 15, 2016
Rep. Titus applauded the US Department of Education for working to ensure that Nevada students have a better understanding their finances in college and beyond. December 15, 2016 Las Vegas – Today Rep. Dina Titus of Nevada’s First Congressional District announced that two of Southern Nevada’s post-secondary institutions will participate in a U.S. Department of Education loan counseling program to teach students more about incurring debt while going to school. The College of Southern Nevada and Nevada State College will join 49 other schools across the country in the counseling program which aims to collect new data on student finances while improving students’ decision making about borrowing, promoting successful loan repayments, and impacting academic performance. Around 100,000 students will participate in the counseling program. Schools will either work with counselors from the Department of Education, third-party services, or institutionally developed programs. They will then measure the effects between those students who receive extra counseling and those who only receive what is statutorily required. “Nearly half of all students attending post-secondary schools in Nevada walk away with considerable debt,” Rep. Titus said. “We must do more to protect students from incurring hefty financial liabilities with no clear understanding of their potential impact down the road. I applaud the Department of Education for initiating this program to collect data and ensure our future leaders have a firm understanding of how to best manage their finances in college and beyond.” The Department is launching this project under the experimental sites authority of section 487A(b) of the Higher Education Act which allows the Department to test the effectiveness of statutory and regulatory flexibility for postsecondary institutions that participate in the federal financial aid program. Rep. Titus voted for an extension of this legislation in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016. |