In the News

Gathered in the shade on the steps of Suzzallo Library on Monday morning, Democratic members of Washington’s congressional delegation called on Congress to roll back the doubling of student-loan interest rates.

The rate on federal subsidized loans rose Monday from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent, after Congress was unable to come up with a compromise to retain the lower rate.

“The cost of a college education has never been higher,” said U.S. Sen. Patty Murray. “Many students and their families are forced to take on mountains of debt to pay for a degree. ... Because Congress can’t agree on a lot these days, interest rates are going to go up starting today.”

Monday’s news conference at the University of Washington was a kind of replay to a similar news conference at the UW’s computer-science building in April 2012. Then, as now, Congress was at an impasse over student-loan interest rates, with each side blaming the other for the delay.

Murray — joined by Reps. Suzan DelBene, Rick Larsen, Denny Heck, Derek Kilmer and Jim McDermott — favors a bill that would extend the 3.4 percent loan rate over the next two years while a more permanent solution is found to keep interest rates low.

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