Welch Sponsors Legislation To Keep Interest Rates Low For Students

Press Release

Today, Rep. Peter Welch sponsored legislation in the House of Representatives that would ensure low interest student loan rates for the coming school year. The Keep Student Loans Affordable Act would roll back the doubling of Stafford student loan rates that occurred on July 1 due to Congressional inaction.

"It's outrageous, unnecessary and cruel that Congress has failed to do its job and is sticking it to the middle class in this country," Welch said. "Every year, a college education slips further and further out of the reach of working families and their children. And too many students who do make it to graduation enter the workforce with an albatross of loan debt wrapped around their necks. Parents in Vermont are running out of options to pay ever rising college tuition bills. One family shared with me their painful decision of picking which of their kids would go to college. Congress should be in the business of promoting higher education, not throwing up roadblocks."

Currently 20,000 Vermonters receive student loans named after the late U.S. Senator Robert Stafford, a pioneer in making college affordable. The average college debt in Vermont is $28,800 per graduating student. Failing to roll back the rate increase will add an extra $1,000 to each student's Stafford loan.

The Keep Student Loans Affordable Act, H.R. 2574, would return Stafford loan rates to 3.4 percent for one year. It is fully paid for by closing a loophole in the tax treatment of Individual Retirement Accounts.

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