As higher education pays to be the most important investment a student can ever make, President Barack Obama has introduced his plan to make quality higher education affordable and accessible for all Americans in a Student Bill of Rights.

The said bill of rights mandates the U.S. Department of Education and other agencies to expand protections and flexibility repayments for student loan borrowers.

As part of his executive actions, President Obama will sign a Presidential Memorandum directing the U.S. Department of Education and other federal agencies to build a centralized complaint system for student loan borrowers by 2016, provide a series of steps to help students pay back their loans, and offer new steps to examine trends in student debts. Additionally, Obama will require contracted loan servicers to initially implement extra payments to highest interest rate loans instead of evenly across loans, which results in having borrowers pay more over time.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will collaborate with the Obama administration focusing on improper payment allocations as the key concerns of private student loan borrowers.

According to the Obama administration, the Student Aid Bill of Rights states that:

I. Every student deserves access to a quality, affordable education at a college that’s cutting costs and increasing learning.

II. Every student should be able to access the resources needed to pay for college.

III. Every borrower has the right to an affordable repayment plan.

IV. And every borrower has the right to quality customer service, reliable information, and fair treatment, even if they struggle to repay their loans.

The administration will also release a state-by-state data showcasing outstanding federal student loan balance and the total number of borrowers who would benefit from these actions.

That being said, President Obama has taken great steps to provide struggling students with poor loan services with a complaint system so that their voices can be heard. Aside from the complaint system, the Department of Education will also create a centralized system where loan borrowers can access information regarding their repayment loans, irrespective of their servicers.

To promote affordable loan payments, the Obama administration will take these executive actions to protect investments of taxpayers as well as help borrowers responsibly pay their debts and improve student loan servicing at the federal level:

• Creating a Responsive Student Feedback System, where the Secretary of Education will build a new website by July 1, 2016 to provide student borrowers a responsive and direct way to file their complaints and offer feedback about collection agencies, loan lenders, and institutions of higher education.
• Helping Borrowers Afford Monthly Payments, where the President will release a series of steps to boost customer services and assist borrowers in their direct student loan repayments, which are made with federal funds and carried out by the Department of Education through performance-based contracts.
• Prioritizing Further Steps to Meet Student Borrowers’ Needs, where the federal government is responsible for ensuring that every student who borrow federal loans have every right and opportunity to repay those loans through reasonable and affordable monthly payments.

With the Student Aid Bill of Rights, American federal student loan borrowers are entitled to accurate and detailed information to help them make the right decisions to manage their debts and repayments.