WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Burgess Owens (UT-04) co-sponsored the Responsible Education Assistance through Loan (REAL) Reforms Act, legislation detailing commonsense and fiscally responsible reforms to America’s federal student loan system.

“President Biden’s student loan bailout is unfair, inflationary, and regressive,” said Rep. Owens. “It also fails to address the fundamental issue: A broken federal student loan system and soaring tuition costs, which have increased by 1,375% since 1987 and made higher education untenable for millions of Americans. I’m proud to support the REAL Reforms Act to protect students from predatory lending practices, expand access to high-quality, short-term postsecondary education, and provide targeted relief for borrowers.” 

The reforms under the REAL Reforms Act include fiscally responsible, practical solutions to help students and borrowers. This bill provides targeted relief for borrowers in the greatest need and helps Americans who have been excluded from postsecondary education access high-quality short-term programs. This will allow individuals to gain quickly the skills needed to fill in-demand jobs. It rejects broad student loan forgiveness for those earning six-figure salaries and curtails the Department of Education’s ability to unilaterally forgive debts. This bill also provides long overdue reforms to graduate student lending and eliminates the expensive and regressive runaway loan forgiveness programs. Lastly, this bill would put a stop to exorbitant student loan practices by placing a cap on excessive interest for existing borrowers harmed by years of Democrat policies, and protects future borrowers from these predatory practices going forward.

The full text of the bill is available here.

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