Congress Votes to Reverse Rise in Student-Loan Interest Rates
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The U.S. Congress gave final approval yesterday to a bill that pegs interest on government-sponsored student borrowing to a market-based rate, ensuring that almost 9 million undergraduates will pay 3.86 percent on their next loan.
The Republican-run House of Representatives voted 392-31 to accept changes made by the Democratic-led Senate to a measure that it first passed in May. That clears the bill, H.R. 1911, for the signature of President Barack Obama, who backs the compromise. In his budget proposal this year, Obama called for linking Stafford and PLUS loan rates to the government’s borrowing costs.