NEA on Loan Interest Rates: Reduce Student Loan Burdens by Cutting Interest Rates

NEA supports the College Student Relief Act of 2007 (H.R. 5), which would cut the current interest rates on subsidized undergraduate student loans in half.

• Access to higher education opportunities allows individuals to succeed in jobs with career potential and upward mobility. Higher education is the stepping-stone out of poverty for many Americans.
  
  
  
•  It is estimated that a person with a college degree will earn 50 percent more over his or her lifetime than someone with a high school degree.
  
  
  
•  Federal student loan programs provide critical access to postsecondary education to low- and middle-income students and their families.
  
  
  
•  With college costs on the rise, more students have to take out greater loans to cover their tuition and other college costs, while incurring record student debt. In 2003-04, the median student debt borrowed to finance a bachelor's degree was $19,300.
  
  
  
• H.R. 5 will help ease some of the burden students face by phasing in interest rate cuts over five years for undergraduate borrowers of new subsidized student loans from a fixed rate of 6.8 percent to a fixed rate of 3.4 percent. Once fully phased in, the interest rate cut is estimated to help ease the financial burden of more than 5.5 million undergraduate students.

I'm ready to take action:

I need more info:

• Issue Overview: Higher Education
• Video of NEA Student Program Chair Anthony Daniels Speaking on College Affordability
• NEA's Higher Education Web site