Some Education About Student Loans

Politicians can make small things seem huge, and huge things seem small.

President Obama is declaring a student loan emergency, lest the interest rates go up this summer.

After all, 39 million Americans have student loans totaling over a trillion dollars.

But one writer calculates that Obama’s plan doesn’t even apply to three-fourths of those loans.

Actually, it’s less, because it only impacts new loans made this year, not student loans already in force. But since they get a seven-year grace period before paybacks begin, nobody would be impacted for several years. Then average payments would go up only by $7 a month—but remember thats’ only for a fraction of the students.

We have bigger problems, like the possible bankruptcies of Social Security and Medicare. The President doesn’t have time to tackle those; he’s too busy visiting colleges to woo student voters, with taxpayer money.

Former Rep. Ernest Istook is a member of the Tea Party Patriots Board.