Courtney statement on President Obama’s Call to Stop Student Loan Interest Rates from Doubling

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Joe Courtney (D-CT) today released the following statement after the United States Senate on President Obama's call today for Congress to take action to stop subsidized Stafford student loan interest rates from doubling from 3.4% to 6.8% on July 1:

"In just 30 days, students across America face the very real risk of seeing their student loan interest rates double unless this Congress acts," Congressman Courtney said. "At a time when middle class families in Connecticut and across the country are making one of the biggest decisions of their lives – the choice of their college – they need certainty about the costs of financing their education. With precious time left until July 1, Congress must act now – as it did last year – to extend the current low rates and provide the time needed to develop a comprehensive and balanced long term approach not just to Stafford loan interest rates, but to the growing pressure that student debt is placing on our economy."

Congressman Courtney is the sponsor of the Student Loan Relief Act of 2013 (HR 1595), which would extend the current 3.4% interest rate on subsidized Stafford student loans for two years to provide time for Congress to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. The bill currently has 143 cosponsors.