skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Wisconsin Legislator Wants Action On Student Loans

play audio
Play

Thursday, October 8, 2015   

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - Legislation which would have extended the Federal Perkins Loan Program, which provided financial assistance to more than half a million students throughout the country, was blocked last week in the U.S. Senate.

Eau Claire Representative Dana Wachs, the ranking Democratic member of the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities, is drafting legislation to try and replace the Perkins Loan Program.

"We've got 18,500 Wisconsin students left hanging," says Wachs. "The net effect of this will take hold in the next semester, but this represents a clear and present danger to the ability of kids to continue to get their educations in Wisconsin."

As he works on writing new legislation to replace the Perkins Loan Program, Wachs also calls for the state legislature to pass the "Higher Ed, Lower Debt" bill, which had its first public hearing this week. Wachs says the state must find ways to make college more affordable in order to ensure students aren't buried in debt when they graduate.

Wachs says high-interest student loans are a huge financial drag on students long after they get a degree and join the work force.

"We need to turn this generation loose economically," says Wachs. "Economically they could be buying homes, buying cars, and what-not. But instead of that they're functionally enslaved to bankers in other states and that's something that just has to stop."

The Perkins Loan Program represented more than $30 million a year in assistance to Wisconsin higher education students. Wachs says it's critical that we come up with ways to make higher education affordable for all Wisconsin families.

"We need to start thinking more along the lines of making sure our kids are provided for in terms of economic stability during their college years, and we cannot saddle them with these endless oppressive high-interest loans," says Wachs.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Corporate partners sign contracts to offer a graduate assistantship and pay the students. In turn, MSU pays the graduate assistant's tuition, fees and salary, so the assistantship is directly tied to the academic experience. (pressmaster/Adobe Stock)

play sound

By Victoria Lim for WorkingNation.Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Missouri News Service reporting for the WorkingNation-Public News Service Col…


Social Issues

play sound

A new report brands Connecticut's tax system as "regressive" for low- to middle-income residents and uses a report from the state to make its point…

Environment

play sound

Backers of a new federal rule said it will increase fairness for livestock and poultry producers, in North Carolina and across the country. The U.S…


A study by the advocacy group Inseparable showed one in five adults said at any given time, they consider their mental health to be either 'fair' or 'poor.' (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Mental health care advocates are encouraging federal agencies to adopt a proposed update to regulations which would expand access to psychological car…

Social Issues

play sound

With hotter summers bringing hotter working conditions, the Maryland Department of Labor is implementing a heat stress standard to protect workers …

Out-of-state money is pouring into Texas as the contentious issue of "school choice" looms large ahead of November's election. (Dzmitry/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

By Jimmy Cloutier for OpenSecrets.Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboratio…

Environment

play sound

Recreational fishermen in New England say commercial trawlers are threatening the survival of smaller businesses relying on a healthy stock of Atlanti…

Social Issues

play sound

Women are treated much differently than men by the criminal justice system, according to a new report detailing how and why mass incarceration is …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021