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Congress finally found a reason to agree on something - student loan rates.  Democrats and Republicans passed a bipartisan bill that will keep student loan interest rates low for borrowers. H.R. 1911, the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013, passed the House by a vote of 392-31 and on August 9 was signed into law (P.L.113-28) by the President.  Congressman Scott supported this compromise.

The law will cut rates on all new loans this year and save a typical undergraduate $1,500 over the life of those loans. The plan allows borrowers to benefit from the current low interest rates and guarantees that borrowers are able to lock in these rates over the life of their loans. In the future, fixed rates would be determined each year by market conditions, helping ensure that borrowers’ rates are more in line with the government’s own cost of borrowing, while capping how high rates can rise.

Lower Interest Rates Now: Under the compromise plan, nearly 11 million borrowers will see their interest rates decrease on new loans after July 1, 2013. About 8.8 million undergraduate borrowers will see their rates on new loans drop from 6.8 to 3.86 percent, and about 1.5 million Graduate Unsubsidized Stafford borrowers will see their rates drop on new loans from 6.8 percent to 5.41 percent. And over 1 million GradPLUS and Parent PLUS borrowers will see their rates on new loans drop from 7.9 percent to 6.41 percent. 
 
Protections Against High Rates: The plan caps how high student loan interest rates can rise which protects students against future economic conditions. Undergraduate loans are capped at 8.25 percent, graduate loans at 9.5 percent, and PLUS loans at 10.5 percent. These loans also include fixed interest rates over the life of the loan, protecting students from the risk that rates will fluctuate over time and providing certainty for borrowers. 

Are you going to refinance your student loans?  What concerns do you have about student loans?