This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
这里是VOA慢速英语教育报道。
Today we talk more about the costs of higher education in the United States. If you missed last week's report, you can find it at 51voa.com.
今天，我们将进一步讨论美国高等教育费用的问题。如果你错过了上周的节目，可以登录51voa.com查看。
Foreign students who need financial aid generally have to seek it from the school itself or their own government or employer.
需要财政援助的国际学生一般可以向本校、本国政府，或者雇主寻求帮助。
If you follow the news, then you know that President Obama recently signed health care reform legislation. But one of the two bills he signed into law also made unrelated changes in the federal student loan program.
如果你关注新闻，那么就会知道奥巴马总统最近签署了医改法案。他签署的两个法案之一还给联邦学生贷款计划带来间接的变化。
These changes will require new loans to come directly from the Department of Education. The department already makes these federally guaranteed loans for American citizens and permanent legal residents.
这些变化要求新的贷款直接由教育部提供。教育部已经向美国公民和永久合法居民提供这种联邦担保贷款。
But since nineteen ninety-three it has also paid private lenders to provide them. Now, as of July first, all new loans will go through the direct loan program only.
但自1993年以来，教育部也曾支付相关费用，由私人银行提供贷款。现在，自7月1日起，所有新的贷款只能通过教育部直接贷款。
Officials say the new law will save the government sixty-one billion dollars over ten years. The plan is to use more than half the savings to provide more federal Pell Grants to needy students. A few billion will also go to schools that traditionally serve minorities and to help two-year community colleges.
相关官员表示，新法案将在十年内为政府节约610亿美元。该计划将用节约下来的半数以上的资金为贫困学生提供更多的联邦“佩尔奖学金”。还有几十亿资金将提供给传统的少数民族学校及两年制社区大学。
David Baime is a senior vice president of the American Association of Community Colleges.
David Baime是美国社区学院协会的常务理事。
DAVID BAIME: "Everybody in higher education benefits from almost all of this bill."
David Baime：“这个法案的几乎所有条款，都能让每个接受高等教育的人受益。”
The new law will reduce the most that borrowers must repay each year from fifteen percent of their income to ten percent. And the longest repayment period will be shortened from twenty-five years. Any remaining debt will be forgiven after twenty years -- or ten if borrowers enter public service.
新法案将借贷者每年必须偿还的金额从之前规定的收入的15%降低到10%，同时将之前规定的25年最长还款期限缩短。联邦学生贷款的任何剩余债务在20年后将被免除 -- 如果借贷者进入公共服务行业，则只需10年。
Supporters in higher education said the final bill did not go far enough. Republican opponents called it an unnecessary government takeover of a private industry. Another criticism was that the financial services industry could lose about thirty thousand jobs.
高等教育的支持者表示，最终的法案做得还不够。共和党反对者称此举是政府对私有行业的不必要的接管。另一种批评的声音是，金融服务业可能会失去3万个岗位。
The Department of Education reported last year that about two-thirds of graduates from four-year colleges had student loan debt. The average was about twenty-three thousand dollars.
去年，教育部报告称，大约2/3的四年制大学毕业生负有学生贷款债务。平均负债金额约为2.3万美元。