Friday, June 28, 2013

McPherson: Failed Deal to Prevent Student Loan Rates from Doubling is "Frustrating"

The interest rate on new Stafford loans is going to jump from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent Monday.
APLU President Peter McPherson released a statement calling the Congressional deal to avert the doubling of student loan interest rates from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1 "troubling" and "frustrating."

“Congress and the White House have known for a year that rates would double unless they worked out a deal by July 1.  So it is frustrating that we are in this situation now.  Hope is not lost though.  While rates on new, subsidized Stafford student loans will now rise to 6.8 percent, most students will not take out loans for the upcoming school year until August or September." 


Earlier in the day, McPherson appeared on National Public Radio to discuss the politics surrounding the student loan debate in Washington each year.

It "shouldn't be a political football every year or every couple of years. We need some way to stabilize this process in a way that maintains relatively low interest rates but also has stability," he said.


Last week, McPherson said in a video
there's still time for Congress and the administration to stop the rate hike from affecting millions of students this fall.

CLICK HERE to listen the NPR story!
CLICK HERE to read it!