Members of RUSA and NJPIRG stage a press conference and recognition award ceremony for U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who is speaking, as Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ-6) and sophomore David Byrnes listen at Brower Commons.

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez became the first in his family to attend college for two principle reasons: his mother, who fervently believed in education, and his ability to get government grants and loans.

“I would never have been able to afford the education I got,” Menendez told a crowd of several hundred students gathered on Brower Commons Tuesday.  “I certainly wouldn’t be standing here as a United States senator.

Menendez, along with U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., of New Jersey’s Sixth District, came to campus to mark the passage of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which they strongly supported, and which will, in part, increase the pot of money available for Pell Grants and make it easier for students to pay back their federal loans.

Student representatives from the Rutgers University Student Assembly, and New Jersey Public Interest Research Group, praised both lawmakers for their support of the bill.

“We at Rutgers know all too well how difficult it could be to depend on the outside community to help fund the excellence that we inculcate here,” said Werner Born, RUSA chair. “But we have been shown that our country truly does care.”

The act, which was signed by President Obama on March 30, kicks in $36 billion over 10 years to boost the maximum annual Pell Grant to $5,975 by 2017. Beginning in 2013, the scholarship will be linked to the Consumer Price Index to make sure it stays consistent with cost-of-living increases.

The act also will make federal student loans easier to repay by capping the monthly payment at 10 percent of the borrower’s income. Additionally, it will shift the lending system away from banks to a direct loan program involving private companies under performance-based contracts with the federal Department of Education.

“The most noteworthy thing is that it’s cutting out the middleman banks, and getting rid of these incredible interest rates they have been charging us since forever,” said Samuel Obergh, a junior who lobbied for the passage with NJPIRG.

Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick praised Menendez and Pallone as well as the students.

“I commend our student leaders from RUSA, NJPIRG, and other student-led organizations across Rutgers who have spent years advocating for increased Pell Grants and improvements to the federal financial aid system,” McCormick said. “It is a testament to their tenacity and to the support of congressional leaders like Senator Menendez and Congressman Pallone that we can celebrate this legislation”