Report Details Harm If Student Loan Rate Doubles

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Contact: Gary Zuckett
304-346-5891

REPORT DETAILS HARM IF STUDENT LOAN RATE DOUBLES;
COSTING 60,500 W. VIRGINIANS OVER $55 MILLION &
HURTING WV’s ECONOMY

Charleston, WV – WV Citizen Action Education Fund (WV-CAEF), USAction Education Fund and Campus Progress today co-released a report detailing how an increase in the Stafford loan interest rate would hurt West Virginians. This report offers new analysis, state statistics, stories of people who could be impacted and commentary from student body presidents and campus newspapers.

“A college education should not be a debt sentence,” said Gary Zuckett, Exec. Dir. of WV-CAEF, “Congress has an opportunity to tell the American people whose side they are on – the 99 percent whose access to higher education would help secure a future of opportunity and security or the one percent who have already benefited from years of tax cuts and corporate tax loopholes.”

If Congress does not act by July 1, the current interest rate on Stafford loans will double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent, affecting 7.4 million Americans and over 60,500 West Virginians, endangering economic recovery and threatening the future of millions of college students for whom low-interest loans represent a lifeline to a better future.

“With all the noise coming from the talking heads and political pundits about student debt these days, it is easy to forget that there are real students and families around the country who would be affected if Congress doesn’t act,” said Anne Johnson, director of Campus Progress. “In this report, we outline how much is at state for Americans’ educational success and the economy as a whole and why it is vital that Congress keep the current Stafford interest rate.”

The WV report with cost data and personal stories can be reviewed online at:

http://www.usactioneducationfund.org/files/2012/05/west_virginia.pdf