From 2000 to 2011, the cost of undergraduate tuition, room, and board rose 42 percent at public institutions and 31 percent at private not-for-profit institutions after adjusting for inflation, according to the U.S. Department of Education. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimates that, as of May 2013, outstanding student loan debt was approaching $1.2 trillion. No one disputes that the situation is out of control, and there is no shortage of proposals from Congress and the White House to control costs and reduce student loan debt. New Student Loan Interest Rates On August 9, President Barack Obama signed into law…

Right before adjourning for the Fourth of July recess, congressional leaders agreed to a two-year reauthorization of highway, transit, and surface transportation programs, as well as a deal that prevented the doubling of interest rates for new student loans. It was crucial that Congress act on these two measures by the end of June; otherwise, current authority for highway and mass transit projects would have elapsed, potentially jeopardizing 2.9 million jobs, and interest rates on Federal subsidized loans would have jumped from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent for more than 7 million students. First Transportation Bill Reauthorization Since 2005 Enactment…

Unless Washington lawmakers intervene, subsidized Stafford student loan rates will double next month to 6.8 percent. Although President Obama and the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, have both said that Congress must act, Democrats and Republicans so far have been unable to agree on how to offset the $5.9 billion cost of extending the current 3.4 percent rate for one year. How did this happen? In 2007, Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed into law a bill that reduced the interest rate on subsidized Stafford loans, but only until July 1 of this year. With one out…

Approximately 7.4 million students will see their Federal student loan rates double on July 1 if Congress fails to pass legislation to keep rates at the current 3.4 percent. A law passed in 2007 reduced the interest rate on subsidized Stafford Loans to undergraduate students for four academic years. Unless the interest rate break is continued, the average student will pay an additional $1,000 in interest each year. On his recent visits to universities, President Obama called on Congress to extend the rate cut. Although his presumptive Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, also urged lawmakers to act, the issue has since…