THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

      PRESIDENT CLINTON WILL FIGHT TO PROTECT LOANS OF 4.5 MILLION
        AMERICAN STUDENTS; STATE-BY-STATE LIST OF NUMBER AFFECTED

In a speech to the American Council on Education in San Francisco today, President Clinton drew the line on education, saying:

"Republican leadership...proposals will cut investments in our future and increase the cost of student loans to our neediest students to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. They will limit the availability of lower cost direct loans to middle class students to increase profits for the middlemen. And they won't reinvent the Department of Education as I have done to make it a stronger voice for education -- they will abolish it. To all of this, I say: No. I will fight these proposals every step of the way, and I want you to join me in this fight."

President Clinton specifically vowed to fight to:

1. Support successful College Access programs, and oppose any attempt to eliminate the in-school interest subsidy for 4.5 million students;
2. Expand Direct Lending and Individual Education Accounts, and oppose Republican efforts to cap participation at 40 percent;
3. Expand AmeriCorps National Service, and oppose any Republican proposals to dismantle the initiative;
4. Continue Goals 2000, and oppose efforts to abolish the Department of Education;
5. Offer a tax deduction up to $10,000 for education and job training, and oppose wasteful tax proposals like the capital gains and cost-neutral recovery provisions in the House Contract;
6. Expand Head Start, and oppose any effort to block grant or limit funding for Head Start.

By opposing Republican proposals to end the in-school interest subsidy, President Clinton will protect 4.5 million current borrowers from accruing interest charges on their loans until after they finish school and start repaying their loans. The Department of Education estimates that ending this subsidy would mean that a student who borrows $17,125 over four years would owe $3,150 more, and have his or her monthly repayment amount increased by more than 18 percent.

The following is a list of the number of in-school interest subsidy recipients in each state for fiscal year 1994, as estimated by the Department of Education.

                            Estimated Number of In-School
 State                      Interest Subsidy Recipients

 ALABAMA.................................................55,778
 ALASKA...................................................3,034
 ARIZONA................................................101,456
 ARKANSAS................................................32,537
 CALIFORNIA.............................................363,781
 COLORADO................................................90,110
 CONNECTICUT.............................................39,096
 DELAWARE.................................................7,283
 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA....................................34,321
 FLORIDA................................................193,147
 GEORGIA................................................102,576
 HAWAII...................................................4,328
 IDAHO...................................................18,311
 ILLINOIS...............................................198,053
 INDIANA................................................122,317
 IOWA....................................................94,281
 KANSAS..................................................61,142
 KENTUCKY................................................55,242
 LOUISIANA..............................................101,621
 MAINE...................................................20,055
 MARYLAND................................................52,938
 MASSACHUSETTS..........................................122,885
 MICHIGAN...............................................151,594
 MINNESOTA..............................................110,843
 MISSISSIPPI.............................................44,431
 MISSOURI...............................................114,316
 MONTANA.................................................22,263
 NEBRASKA................................................45,053
 NEVADA..................................................12,333
 NEW HAMPSHIRE...........................................23,809
 NEW JERSEY..............................................89,816
 NEW MEXICO..............................................23,060
 NEW YORK...............................................383,394
 NORTH CAROLINA..........................................76,380
 NORTH DAKOTA............................................29,108
 OHIO...................................................209,142
 OKLAHOMA................................................78,788
 OREGON..................................................60,901
 PENNSYLVANIA...........................................343,445
 RHODE ISLAND............................................31,440
 SOUTH CAROLINA..........................................52,779
 SOUTH DAKOTA............................................27,165
 TENNESSEE...............................................81,879
 TEXAS..................................................262,274
 UTAH....................................................35,375
 VERMONT.................................................19,943
 VIRGINIA...............................................104,216
 WASHINGTON..............................................66,908
 WEST VIRGINIA...........................................34,232
 WISCONSIN..............................................105,555
 WYOMING.................................................13,005