Student loan rates don’t solve tuition issues

You may not be aware of it, but earlier this month, President Barack Obama signed a measure to keep student loan interest rates at their current amounts for the next year.

With tuition at an all-time high and the economy in the same troublesome state that it has been in for the past several years, it’s nice to have one less thing to have to worry about as a college student.

The deal sets interest rates at 3.9 percent for undergraduates until the 2015 academic year and is predicted to save the average undergraduate student $1,500 in interest charges for the year. Graduates will be locked in at a 5.4 percent rate and borrowing parents will find themselves at 6.4 percent.

The problem is that there is nothing in place to keep those interest rates from skyrocketing in the 2015 year to make up for the break that students now receive.

As a senior who is not planning on attending graduate school, those effects aren’t a large concern of mine, but I do have a lot of friends and family who could be affected.

Admittedly, I have not kept a sharp eye on the interest rates for my loans. I have however pulled myself out of enough credit card debt to know that the accrued interest can make paying off any debt feel like an uphill battle that you will never win.

Add in the extreme amount some have to borrow to attend each year of school, and those stresses and doubts increase tenfold.

Without even beginning to get into the politics of student loans and the costs of tuition, this deal feels like a temporary fix at best.

It doesn’t actually solve any problems that students and parents have paying for school, instead intending to give a small boost to the entire process of paying off those loans after graduating.

That’s not to say that having to pay $1,500 less for each year wouldn’t be nice, but when it’s put on top of a $40,000 debt and could go up a year later, it sure doesn’t feel like much help.

Until the pipedream of tuition decreasing or remaining steady becomes a reality, I think this is the best we’re going to get.