New York May Soon Have Its Own Low-Interest Student Loan Program
New York is one of the few states in the country where college
students do not have access to a low-interest, state-backed student
loan program, according to a report by the New York State Commission on Higher Education
(“Final Report of Findings and
Recommendations,” June, 2008).
The report, the result of a year-long study conducted by a commission
appointed by former governor Eliot Spitzer, addresses a number of
concerns related to New York's higher education system, including the lack of a state-backed student loan program.
Students enrolled at more than 1,000 public and private postsecondary institutions in New York — including the
State University of New York, the largest public university system in the country, and the City University of New
York, the nation's largest urban college network — have fewer low-cost
financing options than students in many other states across the
country.
One commission member estimates that students attending schools in
New York pay an average of 9 to 12 percent interest on their loans
while those in Texas, for example, pay only 6 percent (“Paterson Set to Embrace Student Loan
Plan,” The New York Times, July 21, 2008).
If New York governor David
Paterson has his way, the state’s college students may soon be
able to complete their degree without being burdened by excessive
student-loan debt. Paterson intends to heed one of the report’s
chief recommendations, the institution of a low-cost state student loan program, with a petition to state legislators to implement such a program.
Paterson will also consider several other recommendations from the
report:
- Hiring 2,000 new faculty members
- Establishing a $3 billion research fund
- Expanding articulation agreements for seamless transfers between
colleges by 2011