Bipartisan Senate Agreement Preserves Low Student Loan Interest Rate
The bipartisan Senate agreement on the student loan interest rate would help contain the cost of borrowing for more than seven million students in the coming school year. The agreement would keep the interest rate on new subsidized Stafford loans at 3.4% for an additional year, welcome news for students and families worried about paying for college in 2012-13. However, as described in public reports, the deal comes with its own risks for students and families because it taps savings that both the Obama Administration and the Senate FY13 education appropriations bill had designated for need-based Pell Grants.
