U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday that new student loan reform measures will end bank subsidies and double funding for the federal Pell Grant program. This week "began with the passage of comprehensive health insurance reform that will begin to end the worst practices of the insurance industry," Obama said Saturday in his weekly address. "And it ended with Congress casting a final vote on another piece of legislation that accomplished what we've been talking about for decades -- legislation that will reform our student loan system and help us educate all Americans to compete and win in the 21st century." The president said the new reforms will save $68 billion over the next 10 years, much of which will go toward expanding the Pell Grant program, according to a report of the United Press International (UPI). "We're putting that money to use, achieving a goal I set for America: By the end of this decade, we will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world," Obama said. Other reform measures include capping student loan payments to 10 percent of an individual's income -- a change that will take effect in 2014 -- and revitalizing community colleges and Minority Serving Institutions.
