We cry over student loans and the interest rates on those loans, but we are silent on the $50,000 plus annual cost of tuition at many of our colleges and universities. That’s just like focusing on insurance premiums and not the underlying cost of health care.
Then we have the politics of short-term memory. Read the e-mail below from the White House but when you finish consider that the reduction in interest rates and the increase taking effect July 1, 2012 were both contained in legislation passed by Congress in 2007, the first year of a Congress controlled by a great majority of Democrats, the same people now using the increase as an election tool aimed at young Americans.
Ah, the power of coincidences.
Good morning,
If Congress doesn’t act by July 1, interest rates will double for millions of students with subsidized Stafford loans.
There’s no reason this has to happen, but unfortunately some members of Congress are placing top priority on giving tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires instead of making smart investments in education that put the cost of higher education within reach for more Americans.
So this week, President Obama is getting out of Washington and travelling to college campuses across the country to get the word out to students and families.
Learn more about how this could affect students in your state and find out how you can help spread the word: http://www.whitehouse.gov/double
Getting a college degree shouldn’t be a luxury only a few Americans can afford, and it’s the sort of critical investment in our future we should support, not cut. Every hard working student deserves a fair shot at getting the skills and training they need to get a good job and compete in the 21st century economy.
At a time when so many middle class students are struggling to afford a college education, doubling their interest rates will only make it more difficult for them to get ahead.
Take a minute to learn more about this issue and help us spread the word:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/double
Thanks for your help,
David
David Plouffe
Senior Advisor to the President
Yesterday I heard the President say, “Stopping this interest increase is vital for an affordable education.” Note the word “affordable.” If it sounds familiar, it should as in “affordable” health care. However, there is one glaring flaw in the Presidents logic. He does not understand what makes something unaffordable, rather he thinks the result is the cause and unfortunately he drives his policies on that basis. You see, what makes a college education unaffordable is not the interest rate on the loan, but the size of the loan necessary to pay for an exorbitant tuition and related costs. What makes health care unaffordable is not health insurance premiums, but the underlying cost of the care driving the premiums.
Unless our political leaders understand the problem and solve for that problem, making something affordable is meaningless.
Related articles
- Obama warns on student loan interest (politico.com)
- KCBS Cover Story: Interest Rate Hike Imminent On Thousands Of Student Loans (sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com)
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