Students, Congress | featured news

House Republicans are willing to give President Barack Obama a rare win, the chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee said Thursday in outlining a deal that would let college students avoid a costly hike on their student loans.

A senator's examination of for-profit colleges paints them as dropout factories, where billions of dollars are squandered on financial aid and the schools' emphasis is more on attracting students than educating them.

Congress may have averted a doubling of interest rates on millions of new federal student loans, but the fix is only for a year, leaving students on edge over whether they'll face a similar increase next summer.

Facing weekend deadlines for action, congressional leaders have agreed to deals overhauling the nation's transportation programs without a Republican provision forcing approval of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, and avoiding a doubling of interest rates for new student loans, congressional officials said Wednesday....

Congressional bargainers seem near an agreement that would avert a July 1 doubling of interest rates on federal loans to 7.4 million college students and end an election-year battle between President Barack Obama and Congress, Senate aides from both parties said Friday....

The political battle over President Obama’s plan to keep student loan interest rates from skyrocketing escalated as Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic proposal to tax wealthier earners to pay for it.

President Obama kicked off a week of appeals to young voters on Saturday by urging Congress to maintain the interest rate on student loans, keeping the costs of college stable.

The No Child Left Behind education law offered the promise of improved schools and better prepared students in a competitive world. Yet after a decade on the books, President George W. Bush's most hyped domestic accomplishment has become a symbol to many of federal overreach and Congress' inability to fix something that's clearly flawed.

The measure ends billions of dollars in subsidies paid to commercial banks for making federally backed student loans in which they bore almost no risk, and expands direct federal loans to students instead.