We’ll say this much for the US Congress: they’ve worked very hard to have earned every bit of the disdain people hurl at them. The last time we were talking about them, they were about to let student loan rates double, which ended up happening after they went on vacation. But, now they’re back and they sat down and actually did something useful, reaching a deal to bring the rates on loans back down from “may as well kill yourself” to merely “soul crushing.”
The Washington Post has the news, along with quotes about a bunch of political bickering that you couldn’t possibly care about. The important thing part: loan rates for students who borrow from the federal government through Stafford loans for undergrad education will be 3.86%, as compared to the 6.8% they were sitting at, and grad school loans will be set to 5.4%. Also, any future interest rate hikes will be capped at 8.25% for undergrad and 9.5% for grad students. And if you’ve taken out a loan since July 1, the rate will retroactively apply to your loan, and then lock in for the life of the loan, so you won’t get surprise hikes. Anyway, now that Congress has done this, they’re free to go back to trying to repeal Obamacare or sabotage really easy gun control legislation.