The central role of the National Defense Student Loan Program is suggested by the fact that 77% of the student borrowers received loans exclusively from this source, 83% of the freshmen borrowers depended on the loan program to enable then to enter college, and 58% of other undergraduates indicated that the loan would determine their ability to remain in college. Moreover, 30% of them had to finance their entire college expense by means of scholarships, fellowships and loans and 29% of then had to finance three-fourths of their college expenses in this way. The fact that 55% of the borrowers have been able to reduce the number of hours of part-time work and 55% have been helped to avoid adding part-time work to their daily schedules, indicates that loans are enabling needy students to devote more of their energics to academic work. The survey reveals that 81% of the borrowers are earning their bachelor's degree, 9% their master's, 7% their doctorate and 2% an associate in arts degree. Thirty-seven percent (37%) of then are majoring in education, 16% in science, 6% in mathematics, 10% in engineering, and 3% in modern foreign languages. Sixty-three percent of all the borrowers plan to teach, of whon 31% are men and 32% are wonen. Of all the borrowers in this survey, 15% plan to teach in public elementary schools, 38% in public secondary schools, and 10% in college. The impact of the National Defense Student Loan Program on the 1400 participating institutions of higher education, and on the lives of many thousands of deserving students in those institutions who are seeking, often agaist heavy odds, to obtain a college education, has been truly significant. Brief references to two or threc institutional examples of what this Program is accomplishing may be illwrinating. A middle-Western university reports that the National Defense Student Loan Progran has not only put at its disposal Federal money which was badly needed to supplement the institution's own sizable loan funds, but has actually stimulated new donations to those institutional funds. That university in 1959 made loans from its own funds amounting to $148,421, but its institutional loans actually increased to $204, 318 in 1960, despite the fact that National Defense loans amounting to $119,605 were also granted in that same year. A small Tennessee liberal arts college, which draws the majority of its students fron farming families whose income is dependent upon a single crop, had a very limited amount of loan funds available to needy students prior to its participation in the National Defense Student Loan Progran. During the first eighteen months of the Program 86 students received over $30,000 in National Defense loans, and the following comments are typical of what such assistance ricans to then and to our nation: "I would hot have been able to attend college had I not received assistance from the National Defense Student Loan Program. Now this program will enable me to reach ry educational objective--a teacher's certificate in Journalisu and English." "My family couldn't have sent me to college without this loan. I am now preparing myself for teaching in the secondary schools or for social welfare work.' 11 "This Government loan is essential to the future of my education. Without it I would be unable to spend the five years in college necessary to secure my Master's degree in nuclear chemistry." "If it were not for this loan program, I would not be in college this year. I an very grateful, because it has nade a dream come true. Now I hope to become a teacher. "Getting a college education has been one of my main objectives in life, but this seemed impossible.... This Government loan will enable me to complete a four-year course and obtain my Bachelor's degree in secondary education. A Western state university has recently sent us copies of letters received from beneficiaries of the National Defense Student Loan Progran. The following are excerpts from these letters: "I feel that the National Defense Student Loan is one of the finest things that has happened to educational assistance. Not only does it provide financial aid that would not otherwise be available, but it gives the individual the satisfaction of having accomplished something on his own. "The National Defense Student Loan is making it possible for me to attend college full time and carry a normal student loan, and relieves no of ruch worry over my student financial burdens. My previous college experience carried such financial problems that it interfered materially with my academic work, requiring too much of my time for work and leaving ne insufficient tine and energy to do my best with study and other assignments. I still have to work some, but an getting by ruch better than would be possible without the help of the loan. I am most grateful for it." Perhaps the following letter received from a sophomore student of engineering at Clarkson College, Potsdan, New York, expresses as briefly and eloquently as possible what the Student Loan Progran really means: "February 4, 1961 "Dear Sir: "I would like to thank you and the National Defense "I an truly grateful that I was born in a country where Donald J. Tooncy" Amendments Now Proposed Since the passage of the NDEA in August of 1958, the Student Loan Progran has been analyzed and reviewed by consultants, college financial aid personnel, educational administrators and the public. These groups have all recamended various proposals for strengthening the Loan Progran, and removing existing inequities. Out of this extensive review of experience, a number of amendments, both substantive and technical, are recommended: 1. Establish a permanent, revolving fund. In the two and one-half years since the establishment of the National Defense Student Loan Program, lending activity has increased from $50,000,000 in 1959-60 to an estimated $105,000,000 for 1961-62. There is universal agreement in the participating colleges that this system of long-term loans is one of the most effective methods of assisting the capable college student of limited means to meet the cost of advanced education. Since both enrollments and expenses of attending college will continue on an upward curve during the years ahead, a permanent revolving fund is regarded as an essential clement in the continuing college financial aid program. 2. Raise institutional ceilings: The present law imposes a ceiling of $250,000 in payments of Federal capital which may be made to any one institution during a fiscal year. In 1960, 37 colleges filed applications (which were approved as reasonable by a panel of consultants) in amounts exceeding $250,000. Thus far, in the application period for 1961-62, 88 institutions have filed applications above the ceiling, as the level of lending activity increases. A preliminary review indicates that nearly all of these requests are quite reasonable in terms of the expected level of lending activity for all colleges next year. The severe restriction of the existing ceiling is pointed up by the fact that at both the University of Minnesota and New York University, distribution of Federal capital this year was limited to $7 for each fulltine student, compared to a national average of $27 for each student enrolled. Elevation of the present ceiling would remove the discrepancy. 3. Partial cancellation of loans for college teaching. The present and prospective shortage of teachers extends to all educational levels--clementary, secondary, and higher. Allowing 50% cancellation of loan principle and interest for elementary and secondary public school teaching service is a significant incentive to students to enter teaching at those levels. Extension of the cancellation privilege to teachers in higher education institutions simibrly would scrve as incentive for students considering various careers. Looking at the teacher shortage problen as a whole, there is no reason to distinguish in the Loan Progran between teaching in elementary and secondary schools and teaching in colleges and universities. Technical Amendments *Section 103(a) The proposed inclusion of "Anerican Senoa" in the definition of "State" is a matter of simple equity, and will enable students from that small territory who are now coming to American colleges for further training to be eligible for the same benefits of the teacher cancellation provision as all other American nationals. Section 103(1) It is proposed to extend the benefit of the teacher cancellation provision to borrowers who become teachers in the Indian Schools operated by the Department of the Interior and in the Dependent Schools operated by the Department of Defense. These schools are faced with a serious problem of recruiting suitable teaching personnel, and their present exclusion from the provisions of the Act has unjustifiably placed then under a competitive disadvantage. Section 204(4)(A) The proposed inclusion, in the category of loan applicants entitled to receive "special consideration", of those students with a superior academic background who express a desire to teach in an institution of higher education will bring this provision into line with the amendment to Section 205(b)(3), extending the teacher cancellation benefit to borrowers who serve as full-time teachers in an institution of higher education. *See Title II, National Defense Education Act Section 204(4)(B) The addition of "English" to those subject fields in which loan applicants are entitled to receive "special consideration" is proposed as a means of encouraging students to major in that subject. In 1960 the classroom need for teachers of English exceeded the supply by 27%. Since proficiency in the use of the mother-tongue is fundamental to a mastery of all other subject fields, this shortage of adequately trained English teachers is of vital concern to our nation. Section 205(b)(2) Considerable numbers of borrowers are continuing their studies in foreign institutions of higher education, many of then undertaking advanced training in those very fields of foreign language and area studies in which the National Defense Education Act has indicated a special concern. Under the present language of this Section, such borrowers are not entitled to the same privilege of obtaining deferment of their loan repayments as borrowers who continue their studies in institutions located in the United States. This inequity would be renoved by the proposed amendment, to extend the deferment privilege to borrowers pursuing their studies in foreign institutions approved by the Commissioner. Section 206(a) The proposed amendment erpowers the Commissioner to terminate the student loan fund at an institution, and to make a capital distribution of the funds remaining therein, in the event that he finds that the loan fund is not being administered in accordance with the agreement or is no longer fulfilling a useful purpose. |