The student loan crisis in the USA continues to grow and this summer the interest rate on federal student loans will double if Congress doesn’t take action. Only in the United States can Congress NOT doing something actually get something done and that might be the most important if not the saddest lesson that our college students will learn…
Last year, Congress delayed the doubling of the interest rate on federally subsidized student loans from 3.4% to 6.8%. which is what the rate will jump to in July should Congress fail to act this time around…Isn’t it nice that Congress likes to set these deadlines in such frequent intervals virtually setting up a nonstop game of Russian Roulette with their constituents lives…not exactly what our founding fathers had envisioned to be the role of the leaders of the free world do you think?
If the student loan interest rates double on July first and increases from 3.4% to 6.8% this could result in the equivalent of adding $5,000 to new federal loans for college students and their families.
Since 1999, the average student loan debt has increased by over 500% while the interest on loans that the big banks get from the Fed have steadily decreased… despite the fact that these banks worked hard to bring down our economy in 2008 and then held it hostage until they got what they wanted in massive bailouts from the very taxpayers whose children now face a future of massive debt owed to…these very same banks!
You couldn’t write a more insidious crime story if you tried!
And don’t forget that federal student loans with low interest rates, such as the subsidized Stafford loan, are designed to benefit students whose families make under $50,000 a year and these are people who certainly cannot afford to see their interest rate jump…unlike Congressmen and bankers who I am sure never have to worry about taking out loans for their children at all since they can no doubt use their “lobbying proceeds” to cover such bills.
However the one flashlight at the end of this dark tunnel of bank and government…congress…is Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts who has introduced legislation entitled the Bank on Students Loans Fairness Act that would provide a one-year fix by setting the student loan interest rate at the same level the Federal Reserve offers to big banks which is, believe it or not, 0.75%. That’s 9 times less than students would pay if the Congress does nothing.
So, what will our Congress do? Stand up to the banks for the love of our children…or just lie there and do nothing and let the banks make love to them? Either way, let’s hope our children don’t get it in the end.
I’m still in college and honestly, I am a wee bit afraid. There is a sense of disillusionment that I cannot seem to shake. It is a sad day in America when the young adults of this country give up on the values and morals that set the foundation for this nation in the first place.
Thank God for Elizabeth Warren.
Personally, after I have seen the way the system treats people, I have decided that I will teach my kids that it’s not worth getting a loan for higher education. At the very least they will never be able to say that they weren’t warned.
I’ll agree the college loan business is a mess. However, I also see a side where we have a large percentage of students taking out loans, spending all of the money on non-education related items and still not graduating from college – now these individuals are in default on their loans. This group of individuals, IMO, should have to pay a higher percentage on the money they spent on non-education items after they left school or actually quit attending class. I’m all for congress doing something but not at the expense of taking the money from the only retirement account that hasn’t been destroyed to date. If congress continues to rape every retirement account, our country really will have nothing left.