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Saturday, July 27, 2013

Student Loan Rate Hike Stopped, But That Doesn't Make College Affordable

College students can breath a sigh of relief now that Congress has finally agreed on legislation to keep interest rates on federal student loans from doubling to 6.8 percent this school year.

The Senate passed a compromise billWednesday night that ties federal student loan rates to the yield on 10-year Treasury notes. That means undergraduates will pay an interest rate of 3.86 percent on loans taken out this year; grad students will pay 5.41 percent.

These interest rates will increase as the economy improves, but the legislation caps interest rates for undergrads at 8.25 percent.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

College is NOT for everyone...we should NOT make everyone think it is. The false notion that a college degree is the key to success is easily shown to be false when you look at the current unemployment rates of people with degrees. Then look at some of the folks with degrees that are absolutely worthless (DC is full of examples)...simply showing that a gimme job is more valuable than the degree in the first place!

Anonymous said...

Imagine the community college tsunami en route.Job placement will be on everyones mind,and why not? Let the economic indicators speak for themselves.Send the Ivy League parents to their room,because their day is done.A new world awaits for youth who have the courage to make up their own minds amidst economic uncertainty.Don't burden yourselves with never ending debt.Do what you can afford and let the chips fall where they may.

Anonymous said...

i bet 5:30 does not have a degree. if they do they do not know the data that shows what they said is wrong.

Anonymous said...

5:30 does have a degree - and additional specialty certifications...as the politicians show us regularly - statistics can be made to show anything....I'm talking from face to face experience...I see folks with multiple degrees that are non-functional in the workplace - the degrees in these instances only shows that someone can get in to college and pass the professor's tests.

Some (but not all) with degrees will be successful. Some (but not all) without degrees will fail.

If college is not for you and you get in (affirmative action) or get the loan (another affirmative action), you may end up with a degree - but you should not expect success...you need to make that yourself - with what you learned while getting your degree.