Federal student loans in jeopardy for local community colleges

A gas tax, college loans and the Racial Justice Act are among a few of the topics North Carolina lawmakers were slated to discuss during a special three-week session that started Sunday night.

Earlier in the year, Gov. Beverly Perdue vetoed a plan to take away federal student loan programs for students at community colleges in North Carolina. House Bill 7 would have allowed community colleges to opt out of the federal student loan program.

A special session agenda showed that lawmakers could reconsider the bill and possibly overturn the governor's veto.

Democratic Sen. Malcolm Graham told Eyewitness News that he was pushing other lawmakers to keep the governor's veto in place.

"Here's an opportunity for them to get the types of loans necessary for them to further their education, and yet we're taking it off the table," said Graham.

Supporters of the bill said a growing number of students in North Carolina are defaulting on loans. Schools with high default rates could lose other types of federal aid as a penalty.

"I think it's stupid for any president of a community college to jeopardize his student's financial positions and the school's financial positions for helping students," said Republican Rep. George G. Cleveland.

Cleveland co-sponsored HB 7.

Lawmakers told Eyewitness News that CPCC and Gaston College already have the ability to opt out of the federal loan program.

Lawmakers passed a special local bill this summer, allowing them to opt out if they wanted to. That bill cannot be overturned by the governor.

Eyewitness News called to find out if the two schools will opt out of the program, but couldn't reach either school.