Pallone supports Rutgers activists

10th annual Tent State focuses on tuition hikes, student debt

Written by Bob Makin. Staff Writer

NEW BRUNSWICK — On the opening day of Rutgers University students’ 10th annual Tent State awareness event, Rep. Frank J. Pallone Jr., D-N.J., visited Voorhees Mall on the College Avenue campus, where more than a dozen tents are pitched in support of various issues through Thursday.

Pallone said his most recent of several yearly visits to Tent State was geared to raise awareness for congressional efforts to make college more affordable. They include a provision he sponsored as part of the Affordable Care Act that will allow graduates to pay back no more than 10 percent of their annual income starting in 2014. Pallone also co-sponsored a bill to increase the value of Pell Grants and to keep the interest rate on student loans at 3.4 percent rather than 6 percent.

“I am very concerned about college being affordable, not only for Rutgers, but in general,” Pallone said. “It’s important in Congress to do whatever we can to make college more affordable by providing student loans and grants so students can go to college. It’s a huge problem.

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