Obama, Romney agree on loan rate

Interest on student notes set to double

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will try to add the cost of college to the campaign debate this week as he travels to campuses in three swing states, calling on Congress to prevent an increase in student loan interest rates this summer.

But presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney moved quickly Monday to forestall the issue, indicating that he would rather let Obama claim a victory on student loan rates than risk a political pummeling for his party on the subject.

More than 7 million students who need to take out new loans this year face a doubling in student loan interest rates under the popular Stafford loan program unless Congress votes to keep current rates in place. Some Republicans in Congress have been reluctant to extend the current low rates because of the cost to taxpayers, roughly $6 billion a year

With the cost of college a major issue for families, White House aides have figured the issue would be one on which they could showcase what Cecilia Munoz, the director of the president’s Domestic Policy Council, called a “contrast in approaches” between Obama’s policies and those of the congressional Republicans.

Last year, Obama used another pocketbook issue — the extension of a cut in the payroll tax — to politically bludgeon Republicans. GOP lawmakers resisted the tax cut for weeks, saying it would expand the deficit unless paid for with offsetting spending cuts, and Democrats reaped considerable political benefit.

Romney appears to have learned from that experience. At the end of a short news conference in Philadelphia, where he appeared with Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a potential running mate, Romneyvolunteeredthat he thought Congress should keep the low rate in place.

“There’s one thing that I wanted to mention,” Romney said. “I fully support the effort to extend the low interest rate on student loans.

“There was some concern that that would expire halfway through the year, and I support extending the temporary relief on interest rates for students as a result of student loans, obviously, in part.because of the extraordinarily poor conditions in the job market,” he said.

Whether congressional Republicans will follow Romney’s lead remains to be seen. In 2007, Congress voted to progressively lower the interest rate on the loans, eventually reaching 3.4 percent in 2011, ending June 30. Some Republicans have objected to another temporary measure to extend the lower rates without cutting spending to pay for them.

“I have serious concerns about any proposal that simply kicks the can down the road and creates more uncertainty in the long run, which is what put us in this situation in the first place,” said Rep. John Kline, R-minn., chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

But letting the rates jump to 6.8 percent would be politically difficult in the middle of an election year. A senior GOP staff member said Republicans are studying ways to extend the program.

In the meantime, Obama plans to begin applying pressure on the issue with a trip to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, whose students took part in protests over tuition hikes just two months ago. He plans stops in two more swing states, visiting the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Iowa.

Young voters were a key group that helped carry Obama to victory four years ago, and campaign strategists have been eager to rekindle enthusiasm among them. So in battleground states where the president won’t appear in person, his campaign is planning to focus on the issue of college costs. In New Hampshire, for example, Obama volunteers will hold phone banks on college affordability at more than two dozen locations this week, including a voter registration drive at a “Campus Day of Action” on Saturday.

In Nevada, the campaign will host a round-table discussion on college affordability for the state’s Latinos, another key voting group.

Republicans, for their part, are firing back by focusing on unemployment and underemployment among recent college graduates. An analysis of polling by Resurgent Republic, a Republican group, found that young voters tended to be more negative about the direction of the country than older Americans.

During a visit to South Park, Pa., Romney pointed to an analysis of government data showing that 53.6 percent of graduates with a bachelor’s degree under 25 are unemployed.