Nixon on MOHELA’s elimination of rate cuts: “I told you so”
Attorney General Jay Nixon has just weighed in on the quietly reached decision last Friday by the board of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority ”to eliminate several critical student benefit programs.
“As a result, Missouri students now will be forced to pay as much as 3% higher rates on their student loans,” Nixon said in a statement. “Specifically, the agency voted to eliminate the Public Service Reward Program and Rate Relief Program, which provide benefits to thousands of future Missouri teachers, police officers and nurses. The elimination of these benefit programs has left MOHELA virtually indistinguishable from for-profit loan agencies such as Sallie Mae and NelNet.
Said Nixon: “ ‘During these difficult economic times, too many middle-class families are getting squeezed out of a college education. Unfortunately, these Missouri families were delivered yet another crushing blow last week, and now students will be forced to pay higher monthly loan payments. With tuition skyrocketing at our colleges and universities, this was a major step in the wrong direction.
“When Gov. (Matt) Blunt raided MOHELA’s assets, the one thing he assured us was that it would cause no harm to Missouri students. It was obvious — at least to those of us who fought the MOHELA raid from the beginning — that Missouri students would end up paying the price. And now they are.
“I believe a college education is a key to achieving the American Dream, and I am more committed than ever to creating a pathway to a four-year degree for every Missourian who is willing to work hard and play by the rules. We must put the dream of a college degree within reach for every Missouri family.”
Nixon brought up Blunt’s comments to St. Louis Post-Dispatch article more than two years ago, in which Blunt “vowed that students would have as good or better a loan program as they have now” after MOHELA gave the state the millions of dollars that Blunt had sought for capital improvements at higher-education institutions, and for scholarships.
“I would not move forward unless I were absolutely sure this would be the case,” Blunt said in that article.
Matt Blunt: The latest, greatest, miserable failure of the GOP.
I was a student at UMSL when this was 1st proposed. All of the students I spoke with thought it was a bad deal. Only the highest ranking administrators supported the changes because of the shiny new buildings they would be getting.
A legislator with some sense that voted against the change was retaliated against for her principled view by removing plans for improvements at the school in her district.
The State of Missouri may slip into a permanent coma if this constant Blunt trauma doesn’t stop soon.