WASHINGTON - Borrowing for tuition, housing and books would be less expensive for college students and their parents this fall but the costs could soon start climbing under a bill the Senate passed overwhelmingly Wednesday.
The bipartisan proposal would link interest rates on federal student loans to the financial markets, providing lower interest rates right away but higher ones if the economy improves as expected. The measure was similar to one that already had passed the Republican-led House, and leaders from both chambers said they predicted the differences to be resolved before students start signing loan documents for fall term.
“This compromise is a major victory for our nation’s students,” President Barack Obama said in a statement.
Undergraduates this fall would borrow at a 3.9 percent interest rate. Graduate students would have access to loans at 5.4 percent, and parents would borrow at 6.4 percent. The rates would be locked in for that year’s loan, but each year’s loan could be more expensive than the last. Rates would rise as the economy picks up and it becomes more expensive for the government to borrow money.
Liberal members of the Democratic caucus were vocal in their opposition over the potentially shifting rates included in the Senate measure, which passed with support from both parties, 81-18. The bill passed with support from 45 Republicans, 35 Democrats and Sen. Angus King, the independent from Maine who helped negotiate the deal.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, joined 16 Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, to oppose the legislation.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., did not cast a recorded vote.
Rates on new subsidized Stafford loans doubled to 6.8 percent July 1 because Congress could not agree on a way to keep them at 3.4 percent. Without congressional action, rates would stay at 6.8 percent - a reality most lawmakers called unacceptable, although deep differences emerged even among allies as to how to remedy it.
The compromise that came together during the past few weeks would be a good deal for all students through the 2015 academic year. After that, interest rates are expected to climb above where they were when students left campus in the spring, if congressional estimates prove correct.
Opponents of the measure such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., argued that it did little to make college more affordable or reduce the almost $1.2 trillion in student debt. Eighty-five percent of that debt is made up of government-backed loans; the rest were made by private lenders such as SLM Corp., commonly known as Sallie Mae.
Warren was among the liberal Democrats who labeled the White House-backed proposal a bait-and-switch measure that would lure new borrowers with low rates now but would cost future students. Throughout the morning and afternoon, they stood to oppose the compromise.
“The bill before us today offers students and families lower student loan interest rates in the near-term but we can fully expect higher student loan interest rates in the years to come,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis. “Why on earth would we want to expose our students to higher rates?”
Added Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.: “Don’t kid yourself. … This so-called deal makes it worse.”
The measure’s supporters suggested the new formula is better than the status quo.
“Don’t let anyone tell you that this is bad deal for students. This is not a bad deal for students. If we don’t pass this, students will pay 6.8 percent on their loans. With this bill, they’ll pay 3.86 percent. You tell me which is the better deal,” said Sen. Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Harkin said the legislation is not what he would have written if he had the final say. But he also said that he recognized the need to restore the lower rates on students before they return to campus for classes.
“It’s the best that we can do,” Harkin said on the Senate floor.
Harkin said his panel will “revisit the issue” when it drafts legislation to revamp federal higher-education programs and “address the whole issue of college affordability.”
The White House and its allies said the new loan structure would offer lower rates to 11 million borrowers right away and save the average undergraduate $1,500 in interest charges. Democratic leaders had anticipated opposition from within their ranks but counted on Republican support to help them win passage.
Senate Republicans pushed for the interest rates to be linked to the financial markets and backed the measure. The deal was negotiated by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and GOP Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. King also joined the talks and the lobbying effort for the deal’s approval.
As part of the compromise, Democrats won a protection for students by capping rates at a maximum 8.25 percent for undergraduates. Graduate students would not pay rates higher than 9.5 percent, and parents’ rates would top out at 10.5 percent.
Using Congressional Budget Office estimates, rates would not reach those limits in the next 10 years.
The Congressional Budget Office also estimated the bill as written would reduce the deficit by $715 million over the next decade. During that same time, federal loans would be a $1.4 trillion program.
Next week, Republican leaders will ask the House to accept changes made by the Democratic-controlled Senate to the House-passed bill, said Republican aides who spoke on condition of anonymity. The House bill, HR1911, also pegged student loans to annual changes in the yield on 10-year Treasuries.
Republican Speaker John Boehner of Ohio promised to “act expeditiously” and the Republican chairman of the House education panel, Rep. John Kline of Minnesota, predicted “the bill’s swift passage.”
The top Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Rep. George Miller of California, similarly asked Boehner to bring the bill “directly to the House floor for a vote and to pass it without delay.”
And the president also encouraged quick action. “I urge the House to pass this bill so that I can sign it into law right away,” Obama said in a statement.
Information for this article was contributed by Philip Elliot of The Associated Press and by James Rowley of Bloomberg News.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 07/25/2013