WASHINGTON, D.C. -- President George W. Bush today signed into law a bill (S. 1762) to ensure the availability of affordable student loans. The House approved the bill by a vote of 372-3 on January 24; the Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent on December 14, 2001.

     Under the measure, the current student loan interest rate index, which now provides the lowest interest rate in the Stafford Loan Program’s history, would be extended to 2006. Interest rates for student loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2006, would be fixed at 6.8 percent, and parent loan interest rates would be fixed at 7.9 percent.

     “This important bipartisan legislation will ensure the availability of higher education financing to the students embarking on a very important time in their lives,” said 21st Century Competitiveness Subcommittee Chairman Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA). “There is no better way to serve the students of this nation than to ensure a stable source of higher education funding for those who need it.”

     “More than nine million U.S. students today need student loans to help pay for college. Last year, under the rate cut formula negotiated by Chairman McKeon as part of the 1998 Higher Education Act reauthorization, the federal student loan rate fell to its lowest level in history,” said Education & the Workforce Committee Chairman John Boehner (R-OH). “This new law builds on that success to ensure that college loans stay affordable and accessible for young Americans.”

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