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Student Loan Rates Double After Congressional Inaction

TheDemSocialist

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WASHINGTON — College students taking out new loans for the fall term will see interest rates twice what they were in the spring – unless Congress fulfills its pledge to restore lower rates when it returns after the July 4 holiday.
Subsidized Stafford loans, which account for roughly a quarter of all direct federal borrowing, went from 3.4 percent interest to 6.8 percent interest on Monday. Congress' Joint Economic Committee estimated the cost passed to students would be about $2,600.

Efforts to keep interest rates from doubling on new Stafford loans fell apart last week amid partisan wrangling in the Senate. Democratic senators and the White House both predicted that a deal would be reached in Congress to bring the rates down again before students return to campus.
But if an agreement remains elusive, students could find themselves saddled with higher interest rates this year than last.


Read more @: Student Loan Rates Double After Congressional Inaction

Yayy! My loans just doubled! If a deal isnt reached loans for many others and mine will also double! This is very upsetting, and hard to even believe!
 
Read more @: Student Loan Rates Double After Congressional Inaction

Yayy! My loans just doubled! If a deal isnt reached loans for many others and mine will also double! This is very upsetting, and hard to even believe! [/FONT][/COLOR]

The only loans that are doubling are NEW loans. So, unless you're borrowing MORE money? You're good.

Nonetheless, I think it's AWFUL!!!!!!! When banks can borrow from the Fed at near-zero, they don't need 6.something% on a guaranteed loan. Our government should be ashamed.
 
Mine are already at 6.8 and 7.9. Graduate loans receive no subsidies.
 
Read more @: Student Loan Rates Double After Congressional Inaction

Yayy! My loans just doubled! If a deal isnt reached loans for many others and mine will also double! This is very upsetting, and hard to even believe! [/FONT][/COLOR]

I don't really feel too bad about it, since apparently rates dropped sharply after I got out of school, since mine were around 6-7%. I paid them off just fine, others will too as long as they aren't wasting the money on a useless degree with no hope of employment that pays well.
 
I don't really feel too bad about it, since apparently rates dropped sharply after I got out of school, since mine were around 6-7%. I paid them off just fine, others will too as long as they aren't wasting the money on a useless degree with no hope of employment that pays well.

Yep. Historically that is still a very, very good interest rate for an unsecured loan. As with any gov't "goodie", once established it becomes expected to last forever.

FinAid | Loans | Historical Interest Rates
 
Read more @: Student Loan Rates Double After Congressional Inaction

Yayy! My loans just doubled! If a deal isnt reached loans for many others and mine will also double! This is very upsetting, and hard to even believe! [/FONT][/COLOR]

Perhaps it's nit-picking, but your loan didn't double, just the cost of servicing the loan doubled. Instead of paying $3.40 per $100 annually, you'll pay $6.80 per $100 annually.

Your main source of pain is the various institutions who are grossly overcharging for the services they provide.
 
The only loans that are doubling are NEW loans. So, unless you're borrowing MORE money? You're good.

Nonetheless, I think it's AWFUL!!!!!!! When banks can borrow from the Fed at near-zero, they don't need 6.something% on a guaranteed loan. Our government should be ashamed.

I could be wrong Maggie, but didn't Obama and the Democrats pass legislation to take the banks out of the student loan business and make it a government monopoly? Wasn't that supposed to make borrowing easier and less costly?
 
I could be wrong Maggie, but didn't Obama and the Democrats pass legislation to take the banks out of the student loan business and make it a government monopoly? Wasn't that supposed to make borrowing easier and less costly?

I don't remember that, CJ. Not sure.

Okay, I Googled around and found this:

The President signed a new law that makes it easier for students to pay back their federal college loans. Starting in 2014, new borrowers will pay no more than 10 percent of their disposable income, and the President recently proposed accelerating this benefit for current students. The law also allows any remaining debt to be forgiven after 20 years. Those engaged in public-service professions—such as teachers, nurses, or members of the armed forces—will have any remaining debt forgiven after 10 years if they make their payments on time.

Student Loan Reform — President Obama’s Record — Barack Obama

Not a bad deal either.
 
disincentivising the full development of our national intellectual resources is a serious mistake.
 
Perhaps it's nit-picking, but your loan didn't double, just the cost of servicing the loan doubled. Instead of paying $3.40 per $100 annually, you'll pay $6.80 per $100 annually.

Your main source of pain is the various institutions who are grossly overcharging for the services they provide.

Thank the Marxists giving themselves guaranteed life employment for that. Because you know, they absolutely do believe that a job is a right. ;)
 
disincentivising the full development of our national intellectual resources is a serious mistake.

I don't think pumping out Art History or Musicology degrees passes for the "full development of our national intellectual resources." If that is a seriously the concern, then I would say a bit of discretion for financial aid is necessary and student loans don't meet that criteria. After all, why should society pay for degrees that society doesn't need?
 
I don't think pumping out Art History or Musicology degrees passes for the "full development of our national intellectual resources." If that is a seriously the concern, then I would say a bit of discretion for financial aid is necessary and student loans don't meet that criteria. After all, why should society pay for degrees that society doesn't need?

why should a football player lift large metal objects in preparation for a game when the game itself does not involve lifting metal objects?

also, the interest rates aren't just increasing for majors which you feel are non-essential.
 
Well, my loans were at 6.8% interest rate when I graduated in 2009. I never got the benefit of whatever short-term drop to 3.4% students got after 2009. So I am not all that concerned about it going back UP to 6.8%.

Now if they suddenly come up with a plan to reduce interest rates across the board for all previous loan holders??? Then I would perk up.
 
disincentivising the full development of our national intellectual resources is a serious mistake.

If that were your goal then you should want to make schools harder and college harder to get into and stay in so people would stop screwing around and taking 5 years to graduate to buy another year of suspended adolescence.
 
If that were your goal then you should want to make schools harder and college harder to get into and stay in so people would stop screwing around and taking 5 years to graduate to buy another year of suspended adolescence.

i have no problem with making courses more challenging as long as access to tutoring is not dependent on financial means. i'd support a redesign of the education system, including block scheduling. in this model, courses would meet every other day for twice as long, and the lecture period would include one on one time with the teacher while completing coursework.
 
why should a football player lift large metal objects in preparation for a game when the game itself does not involve lifting metal objects?

also, the interest rates aren't just increasing for majors which you feel are non-essential.

The game of football involves people lifting large human objects. The body doesn't care whether its lifting humans or metal, so metal perfectly is applicable to becoming more adept at lifting humans.

And you're absolutely right. Which is why I said that society's resources should be directed at majors that it needs most, not majors that lead to a job working at the golden arches and sucking off the government tit.
 
i have no problem with making courses more challenging as long as access to tutoring is not dependent on financial means. i'd support a redesign of the education system, including block scheduling. in this model, courses would meet every other day for twice as long, and the lecture period would include one on one time with the teacher while completing coursework.

Block scheduling proved to be a total disaster when our local catch-all 3,500+students high schools tried it. There was a glitch with the lunch scheduling that caused one set of people to always have a split lunch period. To try to make it "fair" they then alternated it in two week segments so your blocks switched up so everyone would be a victim of the split lunch and it got so confusing people had no clue where to be and teachers were having problems maintaining teaching plans. It was particularly hard for people to make up work if they had been out. They eventually scrapped it and went with an optional 7th period.

The specialty high schools use block scheduling in various degrees though. It works very well with the science-math oriented HS that out-performs pretty much all other HS's in our area.
 
i have no problem with making courses more challenging as long as access to tutoring is not dependent on financial means. i'd support a redesign of the education system, including block scheduling. in this model, courses would meet every other day for twice as long, and the lecture period would include one on one time with the teacher while completing coursework.

I don't know where you went to college, but mine has a tremendous amount of free tutoring resources. Of which I've never used :lol:
 
Mine are already at 6.8 and 7.9. Graduate loans receive no subsidies.

Wow. I guess I graduated at the right time. Mine are at 2.875%.
 
The game of football involves people lifting large human objects. The body doesn't care whether its lifting humans or metal, so metal perfectly is applicable to becoming more adept at lifting humans.

And you're absolutely right. Which is why I said that society's resources should be directed at majors that it needs most, not majors that lead to a job working at the golden arches and sucking off the government tit.

education is weightlifting for the mind. i majored in science, but it's undeniable that i have benefited from other required courses which i considered unnecessary at the time. all learning builds neural connections which can be used for a wide variety of applications later in life.

i find that many people lament how "stupid" the general population is. part of the remedy for that is extended education at the specific point in time when the brain is finishing its development. it's my opinion that we should encourage students to pursue as much education as they want. putting a fiscal barrier in front of that is counterproductive.
 
I don't know where you went to college, but mine has a tremendous amount of free tutoring resources. Of which I've never used :lol:

i was lucky enough to be born to parents who are teachers. when i struggled in calculus-based physics, my dad taught himself the subject so that he could tutor me. i feel a bit of guilt that every student doesn't have access to that kind of help. without tutoring, i'm not sure that i would have achieved my full potential.

my folks are retired now, and they tutor anyone who wants help. i realize that this is not the norm, but it should be. we all benefit from a highly educated population.
 
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