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Title: Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013
Vote Smart's Synopsis:
Vote to pass a bill that limits interest rates on federal student loans, beginning on or after July 1, 2013.
Highlights:
- Limits the interest rate for Federal Direct Stafford Loans and Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loans issued to undergraduate students to the lesser of the following (Sec. 2):
- A rate equal to the high yield of the most recent 10-year Treasury note auctioned prior to June 1 of that year plus 2.05 percent; or
- A rate no more than 8.25 percent.
- Limits the interest rate for Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loans issued to graduate or professional students to the lesser of the following (Sec. 2):
- A rate equal to the high yield of the most recent 10-year Treasury note auctioned prior to June 1 of that year plus 3.6 percent; or
- A rate no more than 9.5 percent.
- Limits the interest rate Federal Direct PLUS Loans to the lesser of the following (Sec. 2):
- A rate equal to the high yield of the most recent 10-year Treasury note auctioned prior to June 1 of that year plus 4.6 percent; or
- A rate no more than 10.5 percent.
- Requires the interest rate for a Federal Direct Stafford Loan, a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, or a Federal Direct PLUS Loan to remain fixed for the period of the loan (Sec. 2).
- Requires the Comptroller General to submit a report to Congress regarding the actual costs of student loan programs and to propose ways of administering them without generating additional revenue to the federal government within 120 days of the enactment of this bill (Sec. 4).
- Prohibits the budgetary effects of this bill from being entered on congressional PAYGO (Pay-As-You-Go) scorecards (Sec. 3).