Full Text of HR0696 101st General Assembly
HR0696 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The Illinois House of Representatives seeks to | 3 | | educate and empower its members as they consider questions of | 4 | | public policy which impact, directly or indirectly, the general | 5 | | welfare of African American constituents within their | 6 | | respective districts; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Over 45 million people in the United States | 8 | | collectively owe more than $1.5 trillion in student loan debt, | 9 | | making it the second highest form of consumer debt; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, Recent federal data demonstrates that college | 11 | | completion is a necessary but insufficient solution to | 12 | | inequality challenges, and according to the Center for American | 13 | | Progress analysis, our federal student loan system provides | 14 | | African American borrowers only a 50-50 shot for successfully | 15 | | completing college; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, In 2016 the Urban Institute found that 42% of | 17 | | African American families have student debt compared with 34% | 18 | | of similar white families; and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, The average debt for African American bachelor's | 20 | | degree recipients was $34,000 compared to just $30,000 for | 21 | | White bachelor's recipients and just under $25,000 for Hispanic |
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| 1 | | and Asian bachelor's degree recipients with student loans; and
| 2 | | WHEREAS, African American students who complete a | 3 | | bachelor's degree are more likely to struggle to repay their | 4 | | loans; among those who entered college in 2003, the typical | 5 | | African American borrower who completed a bachelor's degree | 6 | | owed 114% of what they originally borrowed 12 years earlier, | 7 | | compared to 47% for white graduates who borrowed for their | 8 | | education; 49% of African American students who borrowed for | 9 | | their undergraduate education defaulted on a federal student | 10 | | loan, representing the highest default of all borrowers; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, The burden of student debt is compounded by | 12 | | existing and intersecting inequalities; women working full | 13 | | time with college degrees make 26% less than their male | 14 | | counterparts; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Women overall, and especially African American | 16 | | women, are more likely to struggle with student loan debt and | 17 | | face even greater income disparity; 57% of Black women who were | 18 | | repaying loans reported that they were unable to meet essential | 19 | | expenses in the last year; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, The rate of homeownership, one of the most | 21 | | important ways to build wealth, has returned to a fifty-year | 22 | | low, and the African American homeownership rate in 2019 was as |
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| 1 | | low as it was when the Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968; and
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Research from the National Association of | 3 | | Realtors has demonstrated that student loans are leading to | 4 | | serious delays in home purchases, with the average student loan | 5 | | borrower delaying the purchase of their first home by an | 6 | | average of seven years; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Student loan servicers are a critical link in | 8 | | determining whether borrowers will have a pathway towards | 9 | | paying off their debt or simply be continually rolled into one | 10 | | unaffordable payment after another; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, Without strong federal and state guidelines, | 12 | | servicers have engaged in a range of abusive practices that | 13 | | include misapplying student loan payments in ways which | 14 | | maximize fees to the servicer and placing borrowers into plans | 15 | | that delay the debt rather than repay it; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, The U.S. Department of Education has recently | 17 | | signaled that it is willing to make it easier for servicers of | 18 | | federal student loan debt to operate with less oversight and | 19 | | fewer protections for students, both by rolling back existing | 20 | | federal guidance and by seeking to thwart states' rights to | 21 | | protect students in their own states against student loan | 22 | | abuses; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Several states have already begun to take | 2 | | legislative and enforcement actions related to unfair and | 3 | | deceptive practices of student loan servicers; therefore, be it
| 4 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 5 | | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 6 | | we urge the United States Congress to recognize outstanding | 7 | | student debt as a crisis that endangers not only the well-being | 8 | | of African Americans but the nation at large and to work to | 9 | | enact legislation that will ease the burden of student debt on | 10 | | current student loan borrowers; and be it further
| 11 | | RESOLVED, That we urge legislators across the country to | 12 | | enact legislation in their respective states aimed at ensuring | 13 | | that students are treated fairly by student loan servicers when | 14 | | trying to repay their debt, and that such legislation should | 15 | | set standards for student loan servicers and end unfair and | 16 | | deceptive practices; and be it further
| 17 | | RESOLVED, That we affirm the position that states have the | 18 | | right to license and regulate the student loan servicers | 19 | | operating in their state; and be it further
| 20 | | RESOLVED, That we urge the full funding of public higher | 21 | | education, ensuring that the highest quality education is both |
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| 1 | | affordable and accessible to students who wish to pursue it, | 2 | | and that such funding should prioritize addressing and | 3 | | resolving historic inequalities that have denied African | 4 | | Americans full access to higher education; and be it further
| 5 | | RESOLVED, That we urge the development of innovative | 6 | | solutions for student debt held by states, either by state | 7 | | agencies that serve as guarantors for Federal Family Education | 8 | | Loans or student loans that are solely issued by the states; | 9 | | and be it further
| 10 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be sent | 11 | | to the President of the United States, the Vice President of | 12 | | the United States, members of the United States House of | 13 | | Representatives and the United States Senate, and all members | 14 | | of the Illinois General Assembly.
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