Sorry, undergrads, but the Senate wasn’t able to keep your interest rates from doubling—at least not yet. A bill that would have extended a low interest rate on federally subsidized Stafford loans for another year failed on a procedural vote. The debate is over whether to cap interest rates to keep them from rising above a certain level in the future, or to let them follow market rates. If the Senate doesn’t agree on an extension, interest rates will go from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent just as students are taking out loans for the coming school year, affecting 7 million students.
