Giving Compass' Take:

· A reform bill from the U.S. House education committee looking to address student loan debt and make colleges more affordable has been halted until the Education and the Workforce Committee take another look at it. According to InsideSources, this bill will provide students with manageable loans that they need for higher education.

· Will this encourage more students to attend college? How will this impact the U.S. economy?

· Read more about the PROSPER Act.

A bill from the U.S. House education committee is a good start on tackling student loan debt, say supporters, but the legislation still faces hurdles in getting to the House Floor for a vote.

An aide familiar with the legislation said that it won’t be scheduled for a vote until the Education and the Workforce Committee takes another crack at it.

The PROSPER Act – Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform Act – is a massive reauthorization of the 1965 Higher Education Act. Critics have raised a number of issues about the bill and claimed that the way it overhauls federal student loans will limit access to college for lower-income students. The bill’s few champions, however, say that it is a good start on stopping the cycle of student loan debt that now totals $1.5 trillion.

“The issue is that the federal government has made it misleadingly easy to access more debt than is really manageable,” said Rachelle Peterson, a spokeswoman for the National Association of Scholars. “That’s how we’ve ended up with so many students who are mired in debt they can’t pay off. The PROSPER Act provides an upper limit that enables students to borrow the amount they need. That reduces the incentives for colleges to raise tuition. This is intended to make college more affordable.”

Read the full article about the Higher Ed Reform Bill by Jessica R. Towhey at InsideSources.