To the credit of President Obama’s putting this issue at the forefront, the Senate seems to have an agreement on the student loan issue. This is great news for the economy, students and the millions in loan debt.
More than 7 million college students could be spared higher loan rates under a deal reached Tuesday by Senate leaders.
The agreement would freeze the interest rate for a year, preventing it from doubling from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1, making college more affordable for students as tuition costs are rising.
Although leaders in both parties said they favored the rate freeze, they argued about how to cover its $6 billion cost.
While they bickered, President Obama traveled the country to rally college students to press for congressional action. If the deal emerges from Congress intact, Obama is likely to take credit for having forced the issue to the front of the agenda, but Republicans have countered that an agreement could have been reached weeks ago had Democrats not decided to make it a campaign issue. Republicans say that Democrats slow-walked the negotiations to allow the president to paint the GOP as recalcitrant and willing to risk higher college costs.
Read the full story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senate-deal-would-freeze-student-loan-rates-for-year/2012/06/26/gJQASkDN5V_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines
