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A bill that would expand Connecticut’s debt-free community college program to returning students and increase grants for those enrolled in the program passed out of the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee Tuesday.
Beyond expanding the PACT program, Senate Bill 8 would also help reallocate funding to a state scholarship program.
The bill also proposes student loan relief, including tax reductions for those who paid interest on loan payments and the creation of a program that would reduce loan interest rates for students employed in certain “high-demand professions.”
“Our state has the resources to fund public higher education and not shift the burden of higher education on to the backs of students and families,” William Key, of Norwalk Community College, wrote in public testimony. “Debt-free community college will make higher education more accessible to students all across our state.”
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