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Washington, D.C., January 17th - Congressman Jim Moran, Virginia Democrat, supports legislation being considered on the House floor that would reduce the cost of obtaining a college education by cutting the interest rate on student loans in half. The bill is expected to pass early this evening.
"College students often carry heavy backpacks," said Moran. "But those packs must seem like paper weights compared to the debt today's graduate is being saddled with."
According to a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, college tuition is increasing more rapidly than the inflation rate, personal incomes, consumer prices and even the cost of health insurance. In the last five years, tuition, room and board increased by a whopping 44 percent.
Instead of working to reduce the costs of higher education, the Republican controlled 109th Congress ignored these concerns and actually chose to further increase the cost of obtaining a higher degree, raising interest rates on student loans, from 5.3 percent to 6.8 percent.
Moran went on to say, "Fortunately, the days when people with those sorts of misplaced priorities were in control of Congress are gone. Under newly elected Speaker Pelosi?s direction, Congress is preparing to make carrying college debt easier by cutting -- instead of raising -- the interest rate on student loans by half."
Known as the "College Student Relief Act," this bill would reduce the student loan interest rate from the current 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent. Once fully enacted, the typical borrower carrying $17,500 in federal student loan debt would save approximately $5,600 over the life of the loan. Nearly 90 percent of the American public supports the cutting of student loan interest rates.
"The health of our economy depends on having a highly-skilled and well-educated workforce. The new 110th Congress is leading the way in making college education affordable for all Americans." |
