HguItarstrIngsH 50% OFF | OUR LIST PRICE ! CO ' :,9£SOCT 30.199! | Music city i 3101 !7ttUAT PEARL) EUGENE j RECYCLE THIS PAPER. ZOT3COO Vf?' \\ m S! • , 'H1 h< U"*n!o»n Mjl ZOT3COO John T. Robinson, D.M.D General Dentistry 342-1 187 260 Hast 15th, Suite (’ Kugene Close to campus Student Discount WEEKLY STUDENT B5JW5H555S5S SAVERS The Best HEALTH AND NATURAL FOOD IX TOWN! Non Fat r; or 2'; (lood thru 10 30-91 ECHO SPRING MILK $125 -—- X 1' n st I'wo Western parity voGenr '-J‘m WESTERN FAMTJ.t YOGURT 4!98 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington D.C. 20510. Congressman Bob Smith's address is 118 Can non Office Building, Washington D.C 20515. Congressman Ron Wyden's address is 2452 Ray burn House Office Building, Washington D.C. 20515 (Congressman Peter DeFazio’s address is 1232 Longworth House Office Building Washing ton D C 20515. Congressman Mike Kopetski can be reached at 1520 Longworth House Office Building, Washington D.C. 20515. LOANS Continued from Page 1 Although few people do it, de faulting on a student loan is se rious business, said US Bank, student loan officer Laurie Al brecht "Not only does it ruin your credit, but the government can garnish your wages or hold your income tax return,” Al brecht said. She added that once some one defaults on a loan, they t an never gel another government loan In general, student loans go into default after six months of non-puvment Default status is irreversible and once reached, the choices of the debtor be come very grim He or she must pay the full amount past due or the entire balance owed on the loan, Albrecht said Thu primary reason students default on their loans is, as one might guess, an inability to pay "A lot of them say they didn’t get a job in their field and they don't feel that they should pay the loan back. Al brecht said Albrecht said this is especial ly true ol students who attend ed trade si bools that promise to help their graduates find jobs Umirr the proposed Income Dependent Education Assis tance Ait recently introduced by Hep Tom Petri K-W'is . for mer students would repay stu dent loans based on income al ter leaving school. However, the problem of stu dent loan default is a relatively minor problem that gets more press and congressional atten tion than it deserves, Leyton silid DSSA Legislative Director Selena Dong said she believes attention should bo focused on the way the current system dis criminates against low-income students, many of whom come from groups that are tradition ally underrepresented in higher education According to the t'SSA, the "1 Undergraduate Completion and Persistence at Hour Year Colleges and Universities" re port, conducted in 19H9, re Sraled students who receive grants are more likely to stay in si hooi than those who do not Out of the students who did not receive a grant during their first year, only 75 percent re turned tor the second semester. That rate ssas even lower lor Alritan-Amerii an students, who had .1 return rate of liO per cent However, according to the re port, (K) percent of all students who received a grant during their first year were still en rolled during the second semes ter. "We’re not doing enough to keep people in school,” Dong said. Dong said that (10 percent of students who default on their loans never finished school, and for that reason were unable to find decent jobs to pay off their debts. Dong also said that low-in come people, people of color, and people who come from families without college educa tion are often intimidated and deterred hy tier financial bur den imposed by student loans. According to the IJSSA, as grants declined in the liiHO's, so did the enrollment of stu dents of color and low-income students. For those who do make it through on loans, post-gradua tion choices are often dictated by financial concerns, Dong said Dong believes student loan borrowers are more reluctant to go into low paving professions such as community service and teaching "The loss to our country is enormous," she said IDEA may ease loan repayment By Dan bisler EfTiofaki Contfibu The crushing financial bur dens of repaying federal loans alter graduation may lie lifted if Congress approves a pending reform bill The Income-Dependent edu cation Assistance Ac 1 would es tablish a self-financing loan program providing direct gov ernment loans to students, w ith after-grad uut ion repay ment based on income. IDEA, introduced by Kep Tom Petri, K-VVis., and co sponsored by 05 other repre sentatives, including Oregon Democrat Mike Kopetski, is ex pected to soon receive a bear ing before both the House Edu cation and Labor and the Ways and Means Committees, said George; Conant, Petri's legisla tive assistant The bill would provide loans up to a lifetime limit of $70,000 for most college and graduate level students and up to S1-1 d.000 for medical students Students entering the medical profession have an earning his tory that can support the higher level of borrowing, Conant said. Undergraduates could bor row up to Sti.500 a year for their first and second years at college, and as much as $8,000 ,i war for their third, fourth and lifth years. Conant said Graduate students could bor row up to SI 1 ,<)IM) a year. A minimum of $5(K) could be borrowed under IDEA, with a maximum limit set by the at tend,iru e costs of a given higher education institution, he said. The total amount of money available from IDEA is calculat ed by adding up the money a student could borrow from oth er federal loan programs, and subtracting those programs' fees, Conant said. The Treasury Department then automatically approves the loans, as long as the request is at or below the cost of atten dance or the yearly loan limits, after co-signlng with the insti tutions and the students. This is to guarantee students are ac tually enrolled, he said. Additionally, students are el igible for the program regard less of their families' income levels, Conant said. In fact, not only are students from high-income families eli gible for IDEA loans, "we actu ally want students in high-in come brackets, because then (they make) larger loan repay ments to offset the cost from students who have trouble; find ing a job after graduation," Co nant said ' That's the beauty of H,“ he said '‘Right now, middle-in come students .ire stuit out, and (this arrangement) solves the problem." Moreover, even with the ex panded number of students rc eeiving financial aid, the pro gram will save money, at a con servative estimate of S250 mil lion yearly, Conam said IDEA will cover its costs un der the income-dependent ap proach, in which former stu dents would repay the Joans based on their incomes after leaving school IDKA loan pay ments would bo calculated and collected by the IKS as part of former students’ income taxes. The payments would be cal culated according to graduated tax brackets, with the lowest bracket at 5 percent of income and the highest at 19 percent. Conant said. "There would be no fixed re payment schedule. Kuthur, re payment would automatically be stretched out as long as peo ple need it to be," said 1’etri, a member of the House Educa tion and Labor Committee. "Those with high incomes af ter leaving school would be ex pected to repay relatively quickly at slightly higher effec tive interest rates that would help to subsidize those with Tom to IDEA, Page 9