Student Loan Interest Rate

Floor Speech

Ms. HOCHUL. Madam Speaker, you had to look at their faces and right into their eyes to see the worry that these young people had.

Just yesterday, I convened a roundtable of students at Daemen College in my district and we talked about the biggest concern on their mind. It wasn't their final exams; it was the knowledge that in 3 short months, if this body does not act, these young people will face a doubling of the interest rate on their student loans from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. These young people are afraid; they're concerned.

I asked them what it would mean to them. One man who already has $120,000 in debt now said he would probably have to leave in order to start paying back his debt. One woman said she would probably have to take a fourth job on top of her third job. Another junior said he probably would not be back next year. Heartbreaking stories, ladies and gentlemen, but we can stop it from happening.

You've got to ask: What's wrong with this picture? Banks are lending to each other at about zero percent. You can get a home mortgage loan for 3.9 percent. Why are our young people, who are doing nothing other than having a shot at the American Dream that each one of us had by getting a good education, why are they going to be strapped with this debt?

I ask all of us to join in asking the House of Representatives leadership to allow us to vote on this bill.

Source