The current Fed Funds Rate banks receive is .25. The typical savings account return your bank pays you is close to 0%. Yet, the student loan rate is 6.9% and 7.9% for parent loans if you do not qualify. The White House has stressed education to reduce unemployment. So in order to ensure all students can attend college, it is important to extend the 3.5% student load rate to ALL students. This still provides the banks with a low risk, good return on their money (higher than current mortgage rates!), and would be a way for them to repay taxpayers for bailing them out. At the same time, the government is assuming a very small additional risk because the additional student loans would be going to higher income recipients.



