Good news from Washington for those of you looking for Student aid help, or those of you who will have to pay back student loans someday.

Last Thursday, Sept. 27, Pres. Bush signed H.R. 2669, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, the largest increase in student aid since the GI Bill of 1944.

So What does that mean for students?

The maximum annual Pell Grant for low income students will be raised from $4,300 to $5,400 by the year 2012.

Other important details of the bill include…

1)This act helps ensure you don’t retire in debt. The program cancels most remaining balances (if there any left) after 25 years. This applies to anyone, who took out federal loans as an undergraduate or graduate student, whether they took them out years ago or recently.

2)Slashes interest rates on Stafford subsidized loans. The rate cut would be phased in starting July 1. It would go from 6.8 percent today to 3.4 percent by 2011.

3)Caps loan payments. Starting July 1, 2009, borrowers would not have to devote more than 15 percent of their income to repaying Stafford (federal) student loans.

This is good news for students… Acts such as show that our federal government is committed to offering higher education to all income levels.