Your Federal Direct Stafford Subsidized Interest Rate is Going Up
....or Maybe Not

In 2007 Congress passed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA).  One of the components of the act was to gradually lower interest rates on Subsidized Stafford Loans until it reached 3.4% for the 2011-12 school year.  Unfortunately for student borrowers, the act only cut it for that year and on July 1, 2012 the rates will return to the pre-CCRAA rate of 6.8%.  This will happen unless there is an act of Congress.

Currently there are bills in both the House of Representatives and the Senate that will extend the lower interest rate for one more year.  They take different approaches to paying the $6 billion cost of that extension.

If you have a strong opinion on this, you should let your Senators and Representatives know.  You can find out who your House Representative is at: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

You can find your Senators at:http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Purdue DFA is not advocating either opinion you share, either for or against the extension of the cuts or for which version of the bills is better.  That is for you to decide, but rather we encourage you to be involved in the democratic process by letting your members of Congress know what you think.