There were not enough votes in the U.S. Senate this week to move forward with a proposed bill that would have allowed for that refinancing. White House officials estimated the move could have saved a typical student as much as $2,000 through the life of his or her loans.
“A lack of political will prevented the Senate from providing much-needed relief for those who’ve made personal sacrifices to go to college,” said U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.). “Though I am disappointed by the way this vote ended, we will continue to fight for the men and women who are working hard to fulfill their dream of a college degree.”
Earlier this week, President Barack Obama rolled out new executive actions designed to make it easier for graduates to pay off their student loans.
As part of them, the U.S. Secretary of Education is being directed to develop regulations to let some five million student loan borrowers cap their student loan payments at ten percent of their incomes. That cap could be an option for borrowers who took out loans before 2007 by December of next year.
Most student with loans today can already cap their loan payments at 10 percent of their incomes.
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