Congressman: These ideas provide a blueprint to get college students, graduates, and parents the help they need

Washington, D.C. - Rep.  Bruce Braley (IA-01) today announced that this week he will roll out his College Affordability Plan?a plan constructed after a recent tour of colleges and universities throughout the state of Iowa, and after gathering hundreds of comments from Iowans about their experience attaining and repaying federal student loans.

"Having recently visited Iowa college campuses and reading comments from Iowans sharing their student loan stories, it's clear Iowans are struggling with rising tuition costs and high student loan debt?my College Affordability Plan would provide a helping hand to those Iowans," Braley said. "Education is the key to economic opportunity in Iowa and across the country?and we owe it to current and future students to make a higher education more attainable."

Braley's College Affordability Plan contains four central components, several of which will be proposed in legislation throughout the week:

1) Strengthen American Opportunity Tax Credit

The American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) provides college students relief from the high cost of tuition. The AOTC is a $2,500 tax credit that can be taken to offset the cost of tuition, fees, and course materials for undergraduate students at two and four year colleges and universities. However, the AOTC is set to expire at the end of 2017. Braley's College Affordability Plan would:

·         Make the AOTC permanent and increase the credit from $2,500 to $3,000

·         Index AOTC to inflation to ensure that the credit increases as tuition rises

2) Double Student Loan Interest Deduction

This important deduction allows student loan borrowers to deduct up to $2,500 on interest paid on their student loans. This is critically important to Iowans, whose graduates have the 6^th highest student loan debt of any state. Braley's College Affordability Plan would:

·         Double the deduction from $2,500 to $5,000

·         Index the deduction to inflation ensuring that it will increase as tuition rises

3) Help Current Students Who are in Danger of Dropping Out Due to Financial Difficulties

Many students begin their college career on sound financial footing but are then unable to finish their degree because of worsening or unexpected financial problems. Many of these students drop out?even in their final year of school?leaving them with high debt and no degree. Braley's College Affordability Plan would:

·         Create a program providing tuition retention grants to college students near graduation who are in danger of dropping out of school due to financial reasons

o   These small grant awards would be given to cover the tuition a student is unable to pay, or supplement other financial aid to help the student stay in school

o   Students receiving the grant awards must be identified as being in good academic standing, and in danger of dropping out because they can't pay their tuition

4) Allow Borrowers to Refinance Student Loans

Currently, student loan borrowers are unable to refinance their student loans.  Borrowers could save thousands of dollars if they were given the opportunity to refinance their loans.  Braley's College Affordability Plan would:

·         Include the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act, allowing individuals to refinance their student loan debt at lower interest rates, helping address the record high levels of loan debt and delinquencies by giving borrowers the ability to refinance their existing loans to the lower current interest rate of 3.86%.

·         The U.S. Department of Education estimates this legislation would benefit 311,000 Iowa student borrowers.

Braley recently called on Iowans to share their stories receiving and repaying student loans, receiving hundreds of responses from across the state. In addition to the above proposals, Braley will share those responses with the Department of Education this week.

Student loan debt today totals $1.2 trillion, $864 billion of which is backed by the federal government. More than 70 percent of students who graduated from college in 2012 had student loan debt.

EAST PEORIA, IL (09/12/2014)(readMedia)-- Freshmen students in the GM-ASEP program at Illinois Central College are preparing for the first of four internships they will complete as part of their training. Local students include :

• Charles Cain of East Moline
• Austin Brimberg of Moline

GM-ASEP is a two-year automotive program designed to educate and train students for careers as automotive service technicians for GM dealers and AC Delco professional service centers. The program alternates classroom and laboratory work on campus with four internships with GM dealers or AC Delco service centers during which students are able to apply concepts learned in a real-world setting. Those completing the program earn an associate in applied science degree and are encouraged to take the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) exams, an evaluation program that qualifies the student as a technician nationwide.

For more information on the GM-ASEP program at Illinois Central College, contact the ICC Agricultural & Industrial Technologies Department at (309) 694-5192.

Located in East Peoria, Ill., Illinois Central College is a two-year community college that provides a high quality, affordable education to prepare students to enter the workforce or to transfer to a four-year college or university. For more information on ICC, visit www.icc.edu.

WHEATON, IL (09/12/2014)(readMedia)-- The Wheaton College (Ill.) Alumni Association congratulates the College's most recent graduates, who join a worldwide network of 44,000 alumni. The following graduates are from your coverage area:

Cristina Michelle Cerny of Milan graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English, with Teacher Certification in Secondary Education.

Katlyn Mae Hoeksema of Davenport graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Business/Economics, with a minor in Communication.

Evan Lasseter Rahn of Bettendorf graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English, with a Writing Concentration, with a minor in Spanish.

Mark Samuel Sy of Bettendorf graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, with a minor in Spanish.

Matthew Samuel Sy of Bettendorf graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, with a minor in Spanish.

Beau Daniel Westlund of Bettendorf graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English, with a Writing Concentration, with a minor in International Relations.

Wheaton College (Wheaton, Ill.) is a coeducational Christian liberal arts college noted for its rigorous academics, integration of faith and learning, and consistent ranking among the top liberal arts colleges in the country. For more information, visit wheaton.edu.

TROY, NY (09/10/2014)(readMedia)-- Several institutions in the area have been named among the top 150 best colleges for your money nationwide by College Factual (www.collegefactual.com), a trusted resource that uses customizable tools and outcomes-based rankings systems to guide students through the college selection process.

In addition to the best value rankings nationwide, these institutions have earned high rankings in a number of other categories as well. These rankings highlight areas where each school performs better than average when compared to other schools on the list, which includes both research universities and liberal arts colleges. A number of outcomes-based factors were used to determine these rankings, including how well the institution retains and graduates students, the average loan debt per student, the boost in expected earnings, percentage of full-time teachers, and the average student loan default rate.

Here's how the following local institutions stacked up:

Saint Ambrose University is ranked 28 in Best Colleges For Your Money Nationwide, 4 out of 728 in Best Value for Business, Management and Marketing, 4 out of 344 in Best Value for Homeland Security, Law Enforcement and Firefighting, and 6 out of 416 in Best Value for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, and Fitness Studies. You can view all of their rankings here: http://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/saint-ambrose-university/rankings/badges/

Augustana College Illinois is ranked 83 in Best Colleges For Your Money Nationwide, 24 out of 1383 in Most Focused for Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 19 out of 733 in Best Value for Biological and Biomedical Sciences, and 39 out of 764 in Best Value for Psychology. You can view all of their rankings here: http://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/augustana-college-illinois/rankings/badges/

"We publish a variety of college rankings to get students and parents focused on key factors they need to consider when choosing a school,' says Bill Phelan, CEO of College Factual. "How long it will it take you to graduate? 4 or 6 years? What will your expected earnings be, and how does that compare? What's the risk of student loan default? These are tough questions any prospective student should be asking and we highlight these factors throughout our ranking process."

With a focus on providing sought-after data and unique decision-making tools, College Factual puts the college rankings process in the hands of students and parents and not those of institutions or national publications.

College Factual's ranking system is based on a series of algorithms that include information from the Department of Education, nationally mandated data reporting for institutions and Payscale.