<p>I think it’s ridiculous that tuition rates on public institutions aren’t being regulated and banks are getting federal bailouts and the government can’t offer a more competitive rate for the next generation?</p>
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First, Federal government has no jurisdiction over public Universities, states do.</p>
<p>Second, I think it is ridiculous that anyone is getting federal bailouts (banks, home-owners, etc). </p>
<p>Third, there are many reason why the rate is not “competitive”. One of them is that it does not have to be competitive - there is no other program out there that loans 18 year old money without collateral. But this is beside the point, an excellent explanation about how the rate is determined can be found in post #7.</p>
<p>Post #7 explanation has nothing to do with the current Stafford loan rate. The rate was set 4-5 years ago, when congress just came up with numbers. They couldn’t have possibly known what the current 91 days treasury rate will be today.</p>
<p>^They changed it in 2006 to a fixed-interest rate based on how rapidly the return on treasury bills was increasing. This was partly an attempt to stop the debate and move on from the student-loan issue. The fixed-rate is effective until this year, when they should be deciding on a new rate for the next 6 or so years. </p>
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<p>Yes, investment in primary and secondary education is fine. But an investment as expensive as college should not be left to the government’s discretion. </p>
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<p>Public universities receive Federal aid in the form of block grants, making them subject to Federal regulations. This is why the recent SCOTUS case involving affirmative action would be applied to almost every public university, excluding those who turn down Federal funding in order to preserve their sovereignty.</p>
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<p>Perhaps not your intention but you keep making my point. There are no such things as “similar type[s] of loans” to educ loans; there are no ‘comps.’</p>
<p>And, fwiw, educ loans can be up to 14/15 years from initial date (Frosh year). Thus, using the rate of 90-day T’s is inappropriate.</p>
<p>No, you twisted my words. Government gives out loans and aids to people all the time, and I never said that any of the loans are exactly alike. It seems you are saying we should soak it to the students especially the poor ones since they are not credit worthy even though they are bound to have to pay it back and Solyndra didn’t. What rate did Solyndra get and how much did they pay back?</p>
<p>Political views aside, of all the programs and handouts that the government do, this is actually a loan with reasonable interest rate that everyone has to pay back.</p>