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Posted on Fri, Jun 29, 2012 : 5:16 p.m.

Congress passes bill that prevents student loan rates from rising sharply

By Ben Freed

Congress voted Friday to extend lower interest rates on Stafford student loans the Detroit Free Press reports.

University-of-Michigan-Business-School-students.jpg

Interest rates would have doubled on July 1 if Congress had not acted

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

The vote came as part of a larger compromise bill that also included federal funding for highway construction and other infrastructure projects.

The bill passed both the House and Senate with overwhelming majorities. It passed the House with a 373-52 vote and the Senate by a margin of 74-19.

The vote kept the rates on Stafford loans from doubling from 3.4% to 6.8%.

Read the full story at Freep.com.

Comments

Sparty

Sat, Jun 30, 2012 : 3:49 p.m.

Thanks to the President for bringing attention to this beginning months ago, given that Republicans Budget/Ryan Plan passed by the House called for allowing them to double as of July 1st. Glad to see his leadership forced a change in position. It also forced through the long stalled National Flood Insurance Program the President wanted renewed. Do you think the massive flooding in Florida caused the House to change the obstruction? And finally, the President has been calling for road, bridge, and transportation funding for well over a year. Republicans held it up insisting on including the XL pipeline while 3 million construction jobs were on hold, despite the need or these critical jobs across the country. The bill passed - without XL.

Mike

Sat, Jun 30, 2012 : 2:23 p.m.

There's no such thing as a free lunch, but it makes everyone feel good and buys votes so why not...............

Arborcomment

Sat, Jun 30, 2012 : 1:47 p.m.

Good news: saves those getting or having a student loan 3.5%. Bad news: if you're still in college - guess the tuition rate increase? Bonus points awarded when you guess higher than inflation.

simone66

Fri, Jun 29, 2012 : 10:08 p.m.

Whew! I'm relieved! I'm going for my Masters at EMU and that interest rate hike would have hurt very badly.