Total Student Loan Debt Nationwide 1
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College Affordability under the Republican Plan
See the Impact
For the first time ever, Americans owe more debt on student loans than on credit cards—a total in excess of $1 trillion. If Congress doesn’t act by July 1st, more than 7 million students who rely on federal student loans will see their interest rates double from 3.4% to 6.8%. President Obama is calling on Congress to keep interest rates low, and save these students an average of almost $1,000 over the life of that loan.
7,479,105
Number of student borrowers in 2012-2013 school year 2
$1,041
Average cost per
student borrower of interest rate increase 2
65%
Proportion of 2010 college graduates with debt 3
Use the map below or the drop down on the right
to see the impact on students in your state.
President Obama
Mitt Romney
Fighting to keep interest rates on federal
student loans low
Supports the Ryan budget that would let interest rates on federal Stafford student loans double—even as he claims to want to maintain low rates
Doubled our investment in Pell scholarships, helping an additional 3.7 million students a year have access to an affordable college education
The Romney-Ryan budget would also slash Pell scholarships costing the average student nearly $1,000 per year
Created the American Opportunity Tax Credit worth up to $10,000 over four years of college
Would end the American Opportunity Tax Credit
Capped federal student loan payments at 10% of monthly income, helping 1.6 million students as soon as this year
Recently told students struggling to afford college that they should simply "shop around"
Saved taxpayers billions by cutting out bank subsidies from federal student loan programs
While governor of Massachusetts, public university costs almost doubled and he cut funding for community colleges, where in 2006 tuition was 59% higher than the national average