President Obama will speak at the University of Colorado in Boulder tonight; part of a three-state swing that also includes stops later this morning at the University of North Carolina and tomorrow at the University of Iowa.
The President will renew his call on Congress to pass legislation preventing federal student loan interest rates from doubling. The White House insists it鈥檚 not a campaign visit, but all of the venues happen to be in states considered up for grabs this November.
A Lifeline
Brittny Hernandez is not alone. Each year she and about 160,000 other college students in Colorado take out a federal Stafford Loan. Standing by a fountain between classes on the CU campus, the fourth year student from Greeley majoring in Chicano Studies says it鈥檚 the only way she can afford college.
鈥淭he price of living has gone up in Boulder,鈥� Hernandez said. 鈥淢y family can鈥檛 afford to support me financially, so unfortunately I鈥檝e had to take out loans to just be able to stay here at CU.鈥�
The subsidized loan is guaranteed by the government, which also pays the interest on it while students like Hernandez are in school, and for six months after they graduate.
But unless Congress acts before July, that current 3.4% interest rate will double to 6.8%, and the six month grace period will also go away.
鈥淭hat might mean giving up my car, because my mom and I can鈥檛 afford both vehicles,鈥� Hernandez said. 鈥淭hat might mean that my mom cannot get the house that she鈥檚 seeking to buy right now.鈥�
Locking in Interest Rates
Hernandez added she鈥檚 frustrated with the gridlock in Congress, but excited that President Obama is coming to CU to highlight the potential financial woes facing her and about a third of the students on campus.
鈥淲e dispersed over $91 million in Stafford loans last year and we gave that money to approximately 9,500 students,鈥� said Ofelia Morales, associate director of the CU-Boulder鈥檚 Office of Financial Aid.
Morales said interest rates have steadily gone down since President George W. Bush and a Democratic Congress agreed to lower them five years ago. She and others in the financial aid industry had been hoping the rate would get locked in at 3.4 for perpetuity, but that鈥檚 looking less and less likely. Morales said going into debt is worth it, if a Bachelor鈥檚 Degree is the outcome.
鈥淎nything that can decrease the cost of borrowing for students is what鈥檚 going to be best for the student,鈥� Morales said. 鈥淎s a representative for CU-Boulder, we鈥檙e always going to advocate for that.鈥�
Republican Strategy
Not surprisingly there are a lot of advocates for Mr. Obama鈥檚 student loan plan on this campus, and in the city that hosts it, famous for its liberal politics.
Still, as a line about a thousand deep snaked around the Coors Event Center for tickets Monday afternoon, several passing students could be heard uttering not so flattering phrases about the President and his economic policies.
It鈥檚 something Colorado Republicans hope to capitalize on.
鈥淭he issues that I think most young people are really concerned about is when they graduate, are they going to have a job,鈥� said state GOP Chairman Ryan Call.
Call figures the still-struggling job market is a much greater concern for students than the interest rates on their loans. And if swing-state Colorado comes down to the youth vote, Call said Republicans have a good chance, even in Boulder.
鈥淭he President is going to somewhere where he thinks he鈥檚 going to be preaching to the choir, but I think you鈥檒l be surprised,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think there鈥檚 going to be a significant amount of college students there that are going to be asking some tough questions, they鈥檙e going to be looking at his record, they鈥檙e going to be looking at all those promises he made on the campaign trail and saying, you know, you really haven鈥檛 delivered.鈥�
For her part, student Brittny Hernandez, does lay blame on Mr. Obama for not delivering on all of his campaign promises 鈥� including a fix to the country鈥檚 immigration system.
鈥淎 lot of students are ready to see change and ready to organize and ready to move and we didn鈥檛鈥� see as much as we would have liked to the last four years,鈥� she said.
But Hernandez, who will become student body president at CU next month, said she鈥檚 still planning to organize and campaign for Mr. Obama鈥檚 reelection this year, in hopes that that change will come during a second term.
The President makes his first appearance in Boulder taking office tonight at 6:30 at the Coors Event Center.
