With only a month left before student loan rates double for undergraduate college students across the country, including more than 166,000 in Colorado, U.S. Senator Michael Bennet today released the following statement, renewing his call on Congress to block interest rates on subsidized Stafford student loans from increasing. The current 3.4 percent rate will rise to 6.8 percent on July 1, 2012 unless Congress takes action.
“College provides an opportunity for success. During the worst recession since the Great Depression, the highest the unemployment rate ever got for someone with a college degree was 4.7 percent. Yet in Colorado, like much of the rest of the country, student loan debt is an increasing and overwhelming problem. Doubling interest rates will only make this debt worse for students who are working incredibly hard to succeed despite difficult economic circumstances. We should make it easier, not harder, for them to afford college. In one month, they will see their student loan rates double. Congress must take action.”
The average 2011 bachelor’s degree recipient in Colorado graduated owing $23,662, according to the Colorado Department of Higher Education. Colorado ranks third among all U.S. states and territories with 11.5 percent of student loan customers defaulting, according to the Denver Post.
Last month, Bennet joined students at the University of Colorado-Denver to call on Congress to block this interest rate hike.