U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.NASHVILLE - U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and a bipartisan group of senators announced Thursday they have an agreement that ends a lengthy stalemate over the student loan program.
Alexander, the senior Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, called the rate-cap agreement "terrific news for the more than 115,000 Tennessee students who will be borrowing nearly $800 million to help pay for college costs next year."
In his news release, Alexander said the proposal will nearly halve rates on all new undergraduate loans taken out since July 1 when senators remained mired in partisan bickering over how to proceed.
Under the agreement, according to Alexander, rates on every student loan made after July 1 will be reduced from 6.8 and 7.9 percent rates that are currently fixed in the law.
All undergraduate loans will have the same rate, which this year is 3.86 percent, and they'll remain fixed for the life of the loan.
See Friday's Times Free Press for complete coverage.