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This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Today we talk more about the costs of higher education in the United States. If you missed last week's report, you can find it at voaspecialenglish.com.

foreign students who need financial aid generally have to seek it from the school itself or their own government or employer. If you follow the news, then you know that President Obama recently signed healthcare reform legislation. But one of the two bills he signed into law also made unrelated changes in the Federal Student Loan program. These changes were required new laws to come directly from department of education. The government already makes these fedrally guarantee loans for American citizens and permanent legal residence.

But since nineteen ninety three it has also payed private lender to provide them. Now as the July first, all new loans will go through the direct loan program only. Official say the new law will save the government sixty one billion dollars over ten years. The plan is to use more than half the savings to provide more federal Pell Grants to needy students.

A few billion will also go to schools that traditionally serve minorities and to help two-year community colleges.

Divid Baime is senior vice president at the American Association of Community Colleges. You know, everybody in higher education benefits from almost all of this bill.

The new law will reduce the most that borrowers must repay each year from fifteen percent to ten percent. And the longest repayment period will be shortened from twenty five years. Any remaining debt will be forgiven after twenty years or ten if borrowers enter public service.

Supporters in higher education say the final bill did not go far enough. Republican opponents call it as unnecessary government takeover of private industry. Another criticism was that the financial services industry could lose about thirty thousand jobs.

The department of education reported last year that about two thirds of graduates from four-year colleges had student loan debt. The average was about twenty three thousand dollars.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report wrritten by Nancy Stanby. You can discuss educaion and other subjects on our Facebook page and VOA Learning English. And you can find Transcripts and Podcasts at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

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