College students are being played for suckers by the Democratic Party again. Barack Obama’s 2013 budget indicates that the interest rate on federally backed student loans will jump from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent in the summer of 2013. This comes as Obama is preaching his love for college students on campuses by virtue of his agreeing with the Republicans to limit the rate to 3.4 percent. The doubling of the rate will only occur eight months after Obama’s reelection can be attained.
This is not a new ploy for the Democrats and Obama. In 2007, when the Democrats reacquired control of Congress, they pushed through the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, which gradually reduced the interest rates which had been fixed at 6.8 percent during the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 academic years to the current 3.4 percent.
The ploy worked in 2008; Obama trounced John McCain in the youth vote by 34 percent.
And so far in 2012, it’s working again. Last month a poll conducted by Harvard University showed Obama leading Mitt Romney by 12 points among voters aged 18 to 24.
The wording in the Obama budget, as usual, obfuscates the issue by claiming that Obama’s kindness is due to the bad economy:
Under current law, interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans are slated to rise this summer [July 1] from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent . . . At a time when the economy is still recovering and market interest rates remain low, it makes no sense to double rates on student loans.
Of course, the economy is unlikely to get much better under Obama’s stewardship, so the summer of 2013 may be just as bad as it is now. But don’t worry, college students,… wait for it … wait for it … you can take the hit.
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