Statement by the President Upon Announcing the Appointment of Members of the Advisory Council on Insured Loans to Students.
IN EVERY community and on every level of American life, we seek a better education for our citizens. We want that education to fit the needs and meet the challenges of the 20th century. And we are coming closer to that goal. The program of insured loans to students now makes it possible for the middle-income family to spread the heavy costs of a college education over a longer, less burdensome period of time. It thus lends new strength to our national commitment of offering every child the fullest educational opportunity.
Note: The President's statement was made public as part of a White House release announcing the appointment of the Council, created by the Higher Education Act of 1965 (Public Law 89-329, 79 Stat. 1219), to advise the Commissioner of Education on all matters pertaining to the administration of Federal, State, and private programs of low-interest insured loans to students.
The release noted that the President had cited the following as evidence of the importance of the Council's task:
1. Existing loan programs were under strong and growing pressures. More than 600,000 students had already borrowed some $453 million from National Defense Student Loan funds.
2. The costs of higher education were mounting. To cover average annual expenses for college students, middle-income families must spend about $10,000 during a 4-year period.
3. A relatively small Federal investment now would make a very large amount of credit available to such families. Fourteen million dollars, for example, would pay the interest at 2 percent on a principal of $700 million. Such a sum could provide an average loan of $700 to a million students.
The release included a list of members of the Council, appointed by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare with the approval of the President (2 Weekly Comp. Pres. Docs., p. 11).
Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President Upon Announcing the Appointment of Members of the Advisory Council on Insured Loans to Students. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238618