Obama Budget Proposal Highlights Higher Ed Affordability

By Julia Lawrence. One of the goals of the Obama administration’s budget released earlier this week is to encourage affordability in higher education. Nearly $1 billion of the total education budget will go towards funding programs that would contain college costs and expand research initiatives.
In addition, the budget would take away the power of Congress to regulate interest rates on student loans and instead tying them to the market. Although supporters of the move believe that this will ensure that this week keep interest rates low and prevent them from swinging wildly, opponents think that the market will push the rates higher in the future — a move that risks sticking students with unexpectedly high payments. The budget calls for using 10-year Treasury bills as the student loan interest marker. Read more...