Obama Stresses Personal Struggle To Pay Back Student Loans

* Urges Congress to extend low interest rates for students

* Romney agrees on need to hold down student loan rates

* More than 7.4 million college students could be affected

By Jeff Mason

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., April 24 (Reuters) - Describing his own struggle to pay off college debt and taking another dig at his likely White House rival's wealth, President Barack Obama sought on Tuesday to expand his advantage with young voters with a call to make education more affordable.

In a speech about rising education costs, a key theme of his re-election campaign, Obama said he knew firsthand how paying for university could hurt families and ding the economy.

"I didn't just read about this. I didn't just get some talking points about this. I didn't just get a policy briefing on this. Michelle and I, we've been in your shoes," the Democrat told students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

"We didn't come from wealthy families. So when we graduated from college and grad school, we had a mountain of debt. When we got married, we got poorer together," he said, noting they only finished paying off their student loans about eight years ago.

Though Obama has talked about his modest background and his student loans before, his emphasis on wealth seemed designed as a swipe at Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, the multimillionaire son of a former auto executive and Michigan governor.

The Obamas attended some of the most expensive universities in the United States. The president went to Columbia University and Harvard Law School, and the first lady went to Princeton University and Harvard Law School. Romney also attended Harvard for law school and a graduate degree in business.


YOUTH ADVANTAGE

Obama's two-day trip, which includes stops in Iowa and Colorado - both states he hopes to win on Nov. 6 - centers on his effort to get Congress to extend low interest rates on college loans to more than 7.4 million students.

If lawmakers fail to act, rates on the loans will double on July 1 to 6.8 percent - this at a time when other loans boast near record low rates. Obama called on Congress to act to prevent that from happening.

Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, also urged Congress to act, while fitting in a dig at the Democrat as well.

"President Obama's failed leadership on the economy has led to the weakest recovery since the Great Depression, where 50 percent of recent college graduates are unemployed or underemployed," he told reporters on Monday.

"Given the bleak job prospects that young Americans coming out of college face today, I encourage Congress to temporarily extend the current low rate on subsidized undergraduate Stafford loans. I also hope the president and Congress can pass the extension responsibly, that offsets its cost in a way that doesn't harm the job prospects of young Americans."

The back and forth comes as a new study shows Obama is gaining ground with young voters, who helped propel him to the presidency in 2008.

The White House says roughly 160,000 students in North Carolina will rack up some $1,000 in additional debt without congressional action. In Colorado, 167,000 students would suffer, while 7.4 million students nationwide would be affected.

Obama's re-election campaign dismissed Romney's support for congressional action, saying the former Massachusetts governor supported a Republican budget proposal that would result in higher student loan rates and fewer education grants.

Republicans insist that Democrats created the problem in the first place when they controlled Congress and passed a bill that cut rates on subsidized Stafford loans in 2007 but allowed them to revert back to higher levels after four years.

And a spokesman for Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner said federal student loan rates would also double in 2013 under Obama's budget. (Editing by Jackie Frank)

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Comments

[jayx002]

05:51 PM on 04/27/2012

question,
why did He wait until re-election year to make this top of his list?
why not when he took office? and have "transparency" like he said he would, and say we need to reduce interests on student loans, etc
oh wait, he was busy traveling all over for pleasure

[mrskorn]

12:30 AM on 04/27/2012

Sorry....he and Michelle both had lawyer positions RIGHT out of college. How is that struggling? They bought a home for more than a million dollars only 13 years after that.

I don't consider that struggling....

[VFNY]

04:41 PM on 04/26/2012

He still refuses to tell us how he paid for Harvard.. According to Percy Sutton, favors were called in by questionable people to get BHO in Harvard. Don't we deserve an answer to this question of favoritism? Especially when the esteemed Percy Sutton suggested (unintentionally) that a radical called him while he held substantial weight at Harvard, asking him to help a young Barack Obama get in the school...

[IIIJFULLER]

03:39 PM on 04/26/2012

I am not in favor of simply handing money out to students regardless of the interest rate; however, I would consider providing student loans to any student in a four-year college who is maintaining a 3.5 grade point average or above. These outstanding students are in college to learn and work hard to achieve high results. These students deserve the reduced interest rate to continue their undergraduate college work toward a degree. Students in a Master's Program or a Doctorate Program should be paying the higher interest rate since they have received their undergraduate degree. They have completed college. Additional education should not be paid at the lower interest rate. These students need to plan for themselves; ie: Find a job; Save money; Volunteer; Join the Military Forces; Stop Partying all the time; etc., etc. If a student really wants a higher level of education (which I agree is nice to have), then the high interest rate should not be a major problem for them. They need to know that education is not free for everybody in American and we do expect every loan to be paid back within a short period of time. No job? There are jobs around - you may not like them - but I do not care - as a Taxpayer - I'm paying for your education and I expect you to pay back the money owed.. Undergraduate students who do not meet the 3.5 will be required to pay the higher interest rate.

[macrophone]

01:35 PM on 04/26/2012

keep the rates down but DO NOT forgive the debt!

[mrskorn]

12:32 AM on 04/27/2012

I also think that if you are unemployed OR underemployed, they should lift the interest until you get to a regular salary for your training, unless you are not trying to get a job within your field. Many unemployed people are not stuck due to the balance but rather the interest accrued while struggling to get into their field.

[rlj13]

12:15 PM on 04/26/2012

Artificially deflating interest rates for any longer is going to cause serious hyperinflation. Please just let the bubble burst and accept the consequences. The longer we postpone this Great Depression the worse it will be.

[douttfire]

12:44 PM on 04/26/2012

True, true. Hang on...it's gonna be a wild ride.

[rlj13]

02:40 PM on 04/26/2012

Wish I had some gold!

[rlj13]

12:06 PM on 04/26/2012

But we already know that Barack Obama lies about everything, so it doesn't really matter what he says. Still voting for him, but not happy about it.

[douttfire]

12:46 PM on 04/26/2012

Why would you vote for someone and not be happy about it? Just don't vote...or better yet, write your own name in. I won't vote for anyone whom I didn't feel confident about- it's just too important.

[rlj13]

02:40 PM on 04/26/2012

No vote is a vote for Mitt Romney, because Republicans get out and vote no matter what. Whatever else he's done, at least Obama hasn't attacked my reproductive freedom on a federal level. Mitt Romney would.

[IIIJFULLER]

03:45 PM on 04/26/2012

Why would you waste your vote on, as you said, a liar??

[rlj13]

05:04 PM on 04/26/2012

Because Mitt Romney would be worse.

[Mountainhawk]

05:13 PM on 04/25/2012

A graduate education in most first world countries is free, if one has the mental ability to do the work.
The US became strong on the back of free and low cost public education, now we have slid back into the Dark Ages.
Our education for profit model is giving us far to many lawyers and marketing majors and far too few engineers to make wealth in the first place.

[douttfire]

12:47 PM on 04/26/2012

Well put.

[LandusX]

05:00 PM on 04/25/2012

(Mitt get's a question from a student in the audience) Mr. Romney? "how did you pay off your student loan when you graduated college?" (Mitt gets the dear in the headlights look, and ask himself, "what's a loan?".

[IIIJFULLER]

03:50 PM on 04/26/2012

I bet Mr. Romney knows how to spell since you do not. He would say "Deer" in the headlights which is correct. You spelled DEER as DEAR like in Dear LandusX.

[Jay Gould]

04:33 PM on 04/25/2012

Student debt has not always grown at its current very fast rate. In fact, this is a fairly recent phenomenon. Until 2004, student debt grew very much in step with the rest of the household debt. However, the rise of college costs began to outpace the growth of the median household income much earlier than that. More alarmingly, the gap between the two has been growing wider at an accelerating rate. You can see charts illustrating both of these trends here: http://blog.unibulmerchantservices.com/student-debt-is-growing-at-an-accelerating-rate-and-other-facts.

[Marx Twain]

04:10 PM on 04/25/2012

The housing bubble collapsed in large part because banks made massive loans to people that had no capacity to pay them back.

The student loan bubble will likely collapse for the same reason - beacause banks are giving govt. secured loans to people who have no capacity to complete college. The idea that everyone should go to college is preposterous. It is a fantasy sold by the globalists who needed to distract us from the fact that we deindustrialized our nation for thier financial gain.

[rlj13]

12:07 PM on 04/26/2012

And even those who can easily complete college still can't get the kinds of jobs that allow them to pay off the massive debts they incur.

[douttfire]

12:50 PM on 04/26/2012

Don't incur debt. You can get a good quality education without having to attend a high-priced college. Most college debt is incurred by "living the college student lifestyle" (partying, living off-campus, dining out), not by getting the education itself. Our local community college offers 2 FREE years of education courtesy of the Rotary Club. I can't tell you how many students turn their noses up to that in favor of attending a high-priced college.

[IIIJFULLER]

04:01 PM on 04/26/2012

People have been working while going to college and still get very good grades. They are not part of the "Free Ride Generation" who may think that a college education is free to everybody. (i.e. Get a really nice loan, get a degree, get a new car, get married; travel a lot, etc., etc.) and slowly, very slowly pay off the government loan after you pay off the house, car, etc. That is indeed NOT THE WAY IT SHOULD WORK - perhaps all finance companies, banks, car dealers, realtor's, etc. should be required to check with the Government prior to loaning any money to the client and only be allowed to loan money if indeed the college loan is being paid back on a timely basis.

[setanta54]

03:43 PM on 04/25/2012

both were on payroll as lawyers and couldn't manage money back then either,so no wonder we're now trillions in debt.

[nfischet]

09:20 AM on 04/25/2012

not everybody gets a free ride like bho:have him release his "foreign student" loan info......

[seldombinlayed1]

09:37 AM on 04/25/2012

Like that's going to happen. F & F

[Still proud]

09:39 AM on 04/25/2012

There's a story that needs some scrutiny, but won't we be racists if we ask?

[seldombinlayed1]

10:29 AM on 04/25/2012

No the focus gets thrown to something else. "People are saying I'm a Muslim." Then left wing news will waste a month on that again.

[mdsman]

08:54 AM on 04/25/2012

I have an idea....
we need to put this in terms that the current generation understands....

Trophies for all who pay their student loans!!!!!

[Still proud]

09:42 AM on 04/25/2012

No choice but to pay them back. You can't discharge them in bankruptcy and if you fail to pay them, the government can intercept your Social Security check later down the road. Maybe this is how they plan on funding Social Security when Obama's spending hits home?

[Ystorm]

10:43 AM on 04/25/2012

The way I see it, if 'students' weren't so stupid and wasteful, they COULD pay back 25K in a year or year and a half if they moved back home and didn't waste their money on crap. But most of the ones I know are more intent on buying everything in sight and well, bills come last. I think we need to get rid of credit cards and go back to cash.

[mdsman]

08:53 AM on 04/25/2012

But, sir, you did in fact pay it. And so should this current crop of students.
They decided to to accept the loans, they knew what the loans would cost, they decided their major now, pay the money back.
More noise from the "Me, Me, Mine, Mine" crowd.

[seldombinlayed1]

09:36 AM on 04/25/2012

Fanned and faved Good Comment.

[Ystorm]

10:45 AM on 04/25/2012

Yeah..he and his wife DID pay them back and that is something this new squad of graduates need to understand. Of course I would love it if my loans were immediately forgiven, but I also know I can work to pay them off. I don't believe in "gimmees." Everything has a cost.