Subject: Daily Message Points -- April 28, 2016
From: "Cunnane, Pat EOP/WHO" <[email-masked]>
To: "Cunnane, Pat EOP/WHO" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2016 17:18:19 +0000

Daily Message Points

April 28, 2016

Taking Action to Help More Americans Manage Student Debt

*         The President knows that higher education is one of the most important investments individuals can make for themselves and for our country.

*         That's why he's made historic investments to help millions of Americans afford college by doubling investments in grant and scholarship aid through doubling Pell grants and tax credits, keeping interest rates low on federal student loans, and creating better options, like the President's Pay as You Earn Plan (PAYE) to help borrowers manage debt after college.

*         As detailed in a new post on student debt trends<https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/04/28/six-recent-trends-student-debt> and state-by-state data released by the Council of Economic Advisers, we are seeing these efforts pay off.

*         But for too many Americans, burdensome student loan debt can present a challenge as they seek to start a career, raise a family, purchase a home, start a business, or save for retirement.

*         To build on our progress of the last few years, the White House announced new actions to help ensure the more than 40 million Americans with student loan debt understand their repayment options and access high-quality customer service, strong consumer protections, and targeted support to repay their student debt successfully:

o   Announcing a new goal to enroll 2 million more borrowers in plans like Pay As You Earn (PAYE) by this time next year.

o   Launching of studentloans.gov/Repay to help borrowers easily navigate the complexity of student loan repayment options when making decisions about the best plan for them.

o   Strengthening Consumer Protections through new standards for student loan servicing.

o   Providing better information to help borrowers take action on their debt.

o   Ensuring effective student loan counseling to help students make better borrowing decisions, increase college completion, promote successful loan repayment, and reduce delinquencies and defaults.

o   Leveraging research to drive better student outcomes.

o   Modernizing credit reporting for student loans to ensure fair treatment of borrowers.

o   Calling on colleges, universities, non-profits, businesses, state and local governments, and other employers to help more borrowers better understand their options, and to take action to enroll those borrowers in PAYE and related plans so they can manage their monthly payments and avoid delinquency and default.
Advance Estimate of GDP for the First Quarter of 2016

*         Today, we learned that the economy continued to grow in the first quarter of this year.

*         And, each month the economy continues to extend the longest streak of private-sector job growth on record, with 14.4 million private-sector jobs added over 73 straight months.

*         In the past year alone the economy has added 2.8 million jobs and real wage growth has accelerated.

*         Since its peak during the recession, the unemployment rate has been cut in half and now stands at 5 percent, reaching that level far sooner than expected.

*         Over the last six months, the labor force participation rate has risen 0.6 percentage point, the largest such rise since 1992.

*         Other indicators also show remarkable progress:

o   consumer confidence is near its highest level in more than a decade;

o   rising home prices have brought millions of homeowners back above water;

o    the United States is less reliant on foreign oil than we have been in nearly three decades;

o   health care prices have risen at the lowest rate in 50 years since the Affordable Care Act became law;

o   and the budget deficit has been cut by three quarters.

*         Today's report underscores that there is more work to do, and the President will continue to call on Congress to support policies that will boost our long-run growth and living standards, including:

o   policies to support innovation and investments in infrastructure and job training and to promote greater competition across the economy,

o   high-standards free trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

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