WASHINGTON,
D.C. – U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and her Democratic colleagues
today joined Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt and college students to rally
against a proposal by the Bush Administration that would make paying back
college loans more expensive.
“College
students are the latest victims of the Bush tax cut for the rich.
To deliver the hundreds of billions of dollars promised in his tax cut
to the top one percent, President Bush is taxing college students,” Schakowsky
said.
Each
year, nearly 700,000 students consolidate their student loans in order
to benefit from a fixed, lower interest rate. This lower, fixed rate
– which applies to the full term of the loan, up to thirty years – saves
students money and helps them pay off their loans sooner. In an effort
to reduce the federal deficit by raising more money from students who are
paying back their loans, however, the White House has proposed legislation
that would prevent students from consolidating their loans and locking
in the lower, fixed rate. If this legislation were enacted, consolidated
loans would have variable interest rates, which fluctuate with market rates.
“Under
the Bush proposal, a student with a $20,000 loan would have to pay about
$5,300 more in interest over the term of the loan. Students from
hard working low and middle income families are more likely to graduate
with significant loan debt. Under the Bush plan, they will be leave
college owing more money. That is unfair and Democrats, with the
help of students in our nation’s colleges, will defeat this proposal,”
Schakowsky said. |