Students could benefit financially from three acts about college affordability introduced in Congress this year, but with the upcoming election, the chances of the bills making it through are slim. 
These initiatives, aimed at changing the way students pay for college and preventing graduates from defaulting on their loans or failing to pay them according to the legal standard, come at a time when student debt is at an all-time high. 
According to the Project on Student Debt, a third-party organization, 71 percent of college graduates have debt — about $30,000 on average. However, debt is not the only problem: From 2011 to 2013, 650,000 graduates defaulted on their loans. 
The White House College Scorecard reports University students graduate with an average of $15,000 in debt and 4.9 percent default on their loans within three years.   
The Middle Class Creating Higher Education
Affordability Necessary to Compete Economically Act, introduced  by  Sen. Mary  Landrieu this year, would increase the amount of Pell grants, or need-based grants, students can receive. 
Her other initiative, the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Act, would decrease the interest rate on student loans and adjust graduates’ payments to prevent defaulting. 
Student loan payments are calculated from a graduate’s income and range from 10 to 20 percent of a graduate’s discretionary income, or the money they have left over after paying for necessities like housing and food, according to the government’s student aid website. 
Former Student Government president John Woodard traveled to Washington, D.C., several times to meet with lawmakers about higher education policy during his presidency. 
“Student debt has become a problem,” Woodard said. “The only issue is in an election year, the likelihood of them getting passed is slim to none.” 
Woodard said the odds of the CHANCE Act and the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Act are further diminished by conservative initiatives to decrease government spending. 
Retiring Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pension committee, also introduced an initiative for the Higher Education Affordability Act that would revise how states fund higher education, how students pay off loans and the transparency of the entire
process.
“For generations, a college education has been the pathway to the middle class, but new challenges are threatening that promise for many families,” Harkin said in a statement. “The Higher Education Affordability Act seeks changes to our system.” 
Woodard said these acts would have a huge impact on any student and make it easier to go to college. 
According to Landrieu’s website, both acts will have to be reintroduced next year if they are not passed in Congress before Dec. 31.