HB 2720 - DIGEST

Establishes the student opportunity, assistance, and relief act.

Finds that: (1) The cost of higher education has risen dramatically in recent years;

(2) Students are financing their education with more student loan debt;

(3) In 2014 fifty-eight percent of recent graduates in the state had debt and the average federal student loan debt load for a student graduating from a four-year public or private institution of higher education was twenty-four thousand eight hundred dollars; and

(4) A borrower in this state can have twenty-five percent of his or her disposable earnings garnished or thirty-five times the federal minimum wage.

Declares an intent to: (1) Repeal the statutes regarding professional license or certificate suspension caused by student debt; and

(2) Help student loan borrowers in default avoid loss or professional license or certification and to maintain financial stability and avoid the hardships of bank account and wage garnishment by making the postjudgment interest rate for private student loan debt more comparable to the market rate and by increasing the exemptions for bank account and wage garnishments.