Current student loan recipients and the college-bound have been nervously watching the status of federal students loans, which–barring legislation–will require double their current interest rate after July 1st.
Republicans and Democrats in Congress agree that the present 3.4% interest rate should be extended for another year, but they can’t agree on how to fund the $6 billion dollar cost required to maintain the lower interest rate.
“The Republican-led House and Democratic-led Senate have each passed competing proposals to fund an one-year renewal of the 3.4 percent rate, only to see the other chamber reject it,” The Chicago Tribune says.
The newspaper reports that a new proposal by Senator Harry Reid (D) may be the best bet for getting the parties to compromise. Senator Reid would use funds from a change in private pension plans to keep the interest rate from rising to 6.8%–an increase that would cost the average student $1,000 over the course of their repayment.
Both Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama favor a freeze on the interest rate, and The Wall Street Journal reports that Obama has made this issue the “cornerstone of his appeal” to the same generation which was crucial to his election in 2008.
Photo Credit: The Las Vegas Sun