Dive Summary:
- The interest rate on subsidized Stafford loans doubled to 6.8% Monday, adding further financial burden to around 7 million student borrowers after Congress failed to pass a last-minute fix.
- While this increase will see the average borrower paying around $2,600 more, the Institute for College Access & Success says students borrowing the maximum amount and paying back their loans over 10 years would pay an additional $4,000.
- The U.S. Senate is expected to vote July 10 on a bill restoring the 3.4% interest rate for another year, though with the country's total student loan debt near $1 trillion, such a vote would still leave the student loan crisis unresolved.
From the article:
... Marc Bernstein, a legal recruiter from Kips Bay, has two daughters heading off to college in the fall: Lindsey, 17, a freshman at the University of Michigan, and Chelsea, 19, who will be a junior at the University of Maryland.
Bernstein said he might be affected by the interest rate hike. If so, “It will be a hardship. It will obviously impact us on a monthly basis and that cost will translate into quality-of-life changes. ...