Senate approves student-loan concurrent resolution
The Iowa State capitol is shown on Tuesday, January 13, 2015.
March 26, 2019
The Iowa Senate on March 26 moved to pass a concurrent resolution urging Congress to limit certain student-loan interest rates to no more than 2 percentage points higher than the current prime interest rate, which sits at approximately 5 percent.
During discussion on the floor, senators voiced their displeasure with the current interest rates on federal student loans. Currently, the interest rates for these loans range from 5.05 percent to 7.6 percent, according to the U.S. Education Department.
Related: Iowa Senate resolution draws attention to student-loan interest rates
“These kids are coming out of college with anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000 [in] debt, and this sends a strong signal to our bureaucrats in Washington to stop it,” said Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, on the Senate floor. “Quit making money off our students.”
Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, offered more solutions to address student-loan debt. He said promoting financial literacy services and increasing funding to public universities would reduce the amount students would have to borrow to fund their postsecondary education.
The resolution was received by the state House of Representatives later that day.
