Health Care

and Education
Reconciliation
Act
2010

Health Care
and Education
Reconciliation
Act
2010

Describe the Current Social Issue?
Students who graduate from college are burdened with a large
amount on debt. Our generation is faced with the largest amount
debt to pay off in a jaded economy.

Tuition is on the rise, as is the amount of time a student spends
in school per degree. A 4 year degree typically takes up to 5 years
for the average student. (This is largely due to Universities not
accepting many Community College credits.)

Recent college graduates are not able to pay rent, bills, and their
student loan payments.
According to Huffington Post 1 in 10 students will default on
their student loans within the first 2 years. (Nasiripour,
2013)

The average debt owed per student in the United States
graduating in 2013 is $35,200.00. (Ellis, 2013)
This is an enormous amount of debt for a recent graduate
with out a job to take on and pay their bills.
Something had to be done..


What Policy/Policies are in place to
address this concern?
Health Care and
Education
Reconciliation
Act
2010

For this assignment we will focus on the Education Reconciliation portion on
the Act
Let's tell another one million students
that when they graduate, they will be
required to pay only 10 percent of their
income on student loans, and all of their
debt will be forgiven after 20 years -
and forgiven after 10 years if they choose
a career in public service, because in the
United States of America, no one should
go broke because they chose to go to
college.
President Barack Obama, January 27,
2010
Let's tell another one million students
that when they graduate, they will be
required to pay only 10 percent of their
income on student loans, and all of their
debt will be forgiven after 20 years -
and forgiven after 10 years if they choose
a career in public service, because in the
United States of America, no one should
go broke because they chose to go to
college.
President Barack Obama, January 27,
2010 (Ensuring that Student Loans Are
Affordable)
What is the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act?
This act was implemented by President Obama and Vice President Biden in
order to help college become more attainable for potential students. It also made
paying off college more realistic for graduates.
Heres how
1. Limits payments to 10% of income (Decrease from 15%)
a) No more than 10% of livable income will be billed monthly for student
loan payments (Ensuring That Student Loans Are Affordable)
2. Forgive the remainder of debt owed after 20 years (prior to bill it was 25
years) or after 10 years for those that work in public service
a) Anyone who takes ownership of their loans and makes monthly
payments for 20 years will have the rest of their debt forgiven after
that.
b) Public service workers (Teachers, Nurses, Military, Social Workers)
will have their debt forgiven after 10 years (Ensuring That Student
Loans Are Affordable)

3. Student loan reforms
a) End of current subsides given to financial institutions that
fund federal student loans.
b) All new loans will be directed and collected by private
companies that are under performance based contracts
with the department of education


(Ensuring that Student Loans are Affordable)
The goal is to make higher education
more affordable.
This is thought to be accomplished through
1.Increasing Pell Scholarship funding (Doubling amount given in the previous year)
2. Tripling the largest tax credit
3. Simplifying FAFSA so it is easier to potential students to apply
4. Increasing investments in Americas Community Colleges
"This legislation is about expanding opportunity for millions of Americans, and essential
to opportunity is higher education. This legislation contains the largest investment in
college aid in our nation's history by lowering the cost of student loans, expanding Pell
Grants, and investing in community colleges and the institutions that traditionally have
served minorities. It is fiscally responsible, ending years of government subsidies to
banks, making available $68 billion for college loans and deficit reduction
Nancy Pelosi (Pelosi Statement on President Obama Signing Health Care and Education
Reconciliation Act2010)
(Ensuring that Student Loans are Affordable)
Are these laws dictated by local, state,
federal, or combo?
The health care and
education reconciliation
act
is dictated at a
federal level
What is working?
1. Ends process of government giving subsides to
private banks which means loans are distributed by
Department of Education.
2. Increases Pell Grants by double, makes it easier for students
to pay for school and means they have less to pay back after
school (Ensuring That Student Loans Are Affordable)
3. Students can now choose to pay a minimum of
10% of their livable income towards their student
loan payment (Ensuring That Student Loans Are
Affordable)
4. It is now easier for parents to take out Parent
Plus Loans (Ensuring That Student Loans Are
Affordable)
What is working?
6. More money is being spent on funding schools that
predominately serve poor and minority students.
7. Students are now able to readily consolidate their student
loans into one payment which helps them make one payment
and lower their interest rates.
5. Increase investment in community colleges, historically
black colleges and universities and other minority serving
institutions.
According to Section 1501 of the Health Care and
Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 $500,000,000 will be
given in fiscal years 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 for Community
College and Training Grant programs. (Health Care and
Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. (2010)
What is not working?
The job market is not large enough for all of the educated youth
A report by McKinsey, a consultancy, found that 42% of recent graduates
are in jobs that require less than a four-year college education. Some 41% of
graduates from the nations top colleges could not find jobs in their chosen
field; and half of all graduates said they would choose a different major or
school. (Is College Worth It?, 2014)

Basically we have too many job seekers with college degrees and large amounts
of debt to pay off. President Obama said himself we need to push a 4 year
degree less and scale back. We need more skilled trade workers.


A lot of young people no longer see the trades and skilled
manufacturing as a viable career, but I promise you, folks can make a
lot more potentially with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they
might with an art history degree, (Obama Loves Art History)
What do I think?
Student loan debt is a major social problem and one that does not seem to be
getting better. This policy was enacted in 2010 yet.
many students receive their four-year degree with more than $80,000 in
debt and no job prospects (Snyder, 2012))


I have been affected by the changes made by Obama and Biden
through the grants offered, I will certainly take advantage of only
making 10% of my livable income towards my student loan payments,
and hope to take advantage of loan forgiveness after 10 years for
public service workers.
I fear that this is all wishful thinking as I see numerous of my college graduate
friends barely making their student loan payments, working minimum wage
jobs, and living at home with their parents.

In writing The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act is wonderful.
And while statistics do show improvement. They are not substantial

For young college graduates, the unemployment rate is 8.8 percent
(compared with 5.7 percent in 2007) and the underemployment rate is
18.3 percent (compared with 9.9 percent in 2007). (The Class of 2013)

Who is in favor of this act?
Public Schools
American Medical Association
(H.R. 4872-Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation
Act of 2010)

Who is against this act?
Mainly conservatives

Students in the United States
Have been brought up the for over a decade with the notion that the
only way to have a positive future was to attain a bachelors and/or a
masters degree. This was engraved into our brains as young children
Now that many of us earned these degrees and we are searching for
that promising future and we are coming up short.
Many of us are now in debt to the government and have
job prospects that we could have had right out of high
school
The American dream forced on generation
x,y, and now z is not living up to what we thought
It would be
The Norm of most
U.S. students
attending a 4 year
university may be
changing due to lack
of job opportunities
for college graduates
Our values may be different
now that we can see that
attending college now may not
be worthwhile anymore.
Students may be more apt to
learn a skilled trade
Norms, Values, Beliefs, Ethics, and Interests
SAMUEL MITCHELL
Central Michigan University
Dual Majors: History and Social Science
Samuel currently pays $600 a month towards his student loan payments. When he
graduated from Central he owed $60,000.
Unlike most students his parents help him with a large portion of his monthly
payments
Mr. Mitchell is an advocate for the Health Care and Education
Reconciliation Act
Through this act he was able to consolidate his loans and get a lower interest rate
and only make one payment a month.
He is in favor of helping students not accruing the massive amount of debt that
he owes. Without his parents help he would not be able to live somewhat
comfortably.
Mr. Mitchell has a teaching certificate to teach secondary
education, although his degree s are in social science and history he
works as a territory manager for a water meter company. A job that
does require a bachelors degree, but not the two that he earned.
Like most college graduates he is working in a field outside his
degree. He is thankful however to have the job he has given the
horrific nature of the job market.
(S, Mitchell)
Resources
Ellis, B. (2013, May 17). Class of 2013 Grads Average $35,200 in Loans, Credit
Card Debt.CNNMoney.Retrieved October 7, 2014 from
http://money.cnn.com/2013/05/17/pf/college/student-debt/
Ensuring That Student Loans Are Affordable. (n.d.). The White House. Retrieved
October 6 2014 from http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/higher-
education/ensuring-that-student-loans-are-affordable
Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. (2010, January 5) One
Hundred Eleventh Congress of the United States of America. Retrieved October 5
2014 from
http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/healthcareandeducationreconciliationact.pdf
H.R. 4872-Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010, a
bill on Open Congress (n.d.). OpenCongress. Retrieved October 4, 2014 from From
<http://www.opencongress.org/bill/hr4872-111/show>.
Is College Worth It?. (2014, April 5). The Economist. Retrieved October 5. 2014
from http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21600131-too-many-degrees-
are-waste-money-return-higher-education-would-be-much-better
Nasiripour, S (2013, September 30). Student Loan Defaults Surge to Highest Level
in
Nearly Two Decades. The Huffington Post. Retrieved October 5, 2014 from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/30/student-loans-default_n_4019806.html

Obama Loves Art History but Thinks Its (Economically) Useless. (n.d.).
Hyperallergic RSS. Retreived October 7, 2014 from
http://hyperallergic.com/106217/obama-loves-art-history-but-thinks-its-economically-
useless/

Pelosi Statement on President Obama Signing Health Care and Education
Reconciliation Act(2010, April 12). Managed Care Weekly, Digest, NewsRX,
Retrieved October 4, 2014 from http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pelosi-
statement-on-president-obama-signing-health-care-and-education-reconciliation-act-
89531297.html

Snyder, T.J. (2012).The lesson plan for affordable higher education. Community
College Journal, 83(2), 14. Retrieved October 6, 2014 from
http://search.proquest.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/docview/1223339960?accountid=149
25

S. Mitchell (Personal Communication, October 1, 2014).

The Class of 2013: Young graduates still face dim job prospects. (n.d.). Economic
Policy Institute. Retrieved October 6, 2014 from http://www.epi.org/publication/class-
of-2013-graduates-job-prospects/

Resources