Student Loan Interest Rates

[ttiwed]

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[mutual_biscuit]

They are very high. You can thank George W. and the 2005-06 Republican Congress for that.

[cisforcookie]

good god. those rates suck. I'm definitely not borrowing a dime at 8 percent. WUSTL it is.

[1LMan]

Those are pretty standard actually.  Also, what people fail to recognize as they complain and lament over the rates is that when you graduate you can consolidate once the rates drop down, which they inevitably will in the next few years. 

[cisforcookie]

Those are pretty standard actually.  Also, what people fail to recognize as they complain and lament over the rates is that when you graduate you can consolidate once the rates drop down, which they inevitably will in the next few years. 

I am under the impression that publicly available long term fixed interest rates are fairly sticky. What rates were people getting in 2001? 7 percent? cause that's still too high for my taste.

[1LMan]

Actually, when I consolidated I consolidated at under 3% back in 2003-2004.

Also, if you don't like 7% interest rates, you need to come out of the dark.  A 6% mortgage is good with good credit right now and back in the 80's, rates were around 17%. 

[txlawstu]

Those are the going rates on Stafford loans at the moment.  The rates fluctuate between 3 and 8% at any given year.  When I was in undergrad the rate was 7.5% so I consolidated in a hurry when they dropped to 3%.

Your private loan rates are actually good rates.  It means that you and/or your co-signer have good credit.  They are typically much higher than that.