Students to Obama: Keep college affordable

Clipboard in hand, Elias Benjelloun walked along a line of people picking up free tickets to hear President Barack Obama speak today at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas about making it easier to repay student loans.

Benjelloun, the 17-year-old president of the UNLV Young Democrats, was registering Nevadans to vote and getting students to sign up to join the club of university activists he leads.

"Keeping college affordable for students is a very important issue, especially on this campus," said Benjelloun, a junior who graduated high school at 14 and is racking up loans on his way to becoming a doctor. "Students are tired of politicians who don't care and who do not value education."

Actually, both Democrats and Republicans in Congress say they want to prevent Stafford student loan interest rates from doubling in July from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. They just can't agree on how to pay the $6 billion bill, an election-year argument that has become part of the presidential race.

Obama has scolded congressional Republicans for not acting on legislation to prevent an interest rate hike on new loans. GOP leaders, in turn, have accused the Democratic president of using the issue to rally voters, especially young men and women on campuses who helped elect him in 2008.

Nevada is a battleground state, and Obama needs a high voter turnout to score a repeat victory here against GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who must win Nevada for the White House.

At UNLV, Obama plans in a midday speech to tout his efforts to reduce student loan payments for low-income graduates to avoid defaulting. And he wants to make it easier to apply for the program, which caps monthly bills.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan previewed Obama's speech, saying the president believes making college more affordable means more Americans will get a higher education and better jobs.

"The strength of the economy is inextricably linked to the strength of education," Duncan said in a conference call with reporters. "The cost of college is putting the American dream out of reach."

Under the Income Based Repayment program that began in 2007, former students can enroll to cap student loan payments at 15 percent of their discretionary income if they pay on time. In 2009, Obama lowered the cap to 10 percent for borrowers starting in 2014. Last fall, he announced an executive action to speed things up to lower the cap to 10 percent by the end of 2012.

Today, Obama will sign a memo ordering his administration to make it easier for former students to apply for the program by streamlining the application process and requiring loan servicers to provide more information about repayment options before students graduate.

In the past academic year, 5,500 UNLV undergraduates, 25 percent of the students, received a subsidized Stafford Loan. Any interest rate increase would only affect new loans.

In April, as Congress debated student loans, Romney said he favored extending the low interest rate "in part because of the extraordinarily poor conditions in the job market."

Ahead of the president's visit, the Romney campaign said UNLV students have seen college costs sharply rise and job prospects drop off during the Obama administration.

UNLV's yearly tuition has gone up by $2,213, 55 percent, since Obama took office, increasing to $6,218 for 2012-13. That is because of state budget cuts, but the Romney campaign blames Obama for the continuing economic crisis that led to state budget belt-tightening in Nevada.

On average UNLV students leave school with about $18,000 in debt, according to the university.

When they graduate, it's tough to find a job, too, with the unemployment rate at 16.7 percent for Nevada adults ages 20 to 24, according to Bureau of Labor statistics. Nationally, more than half of all recent college graduates under age 25 were jobless, according to an Associated Press story in April.

"In addition to crushing student loan debt, young graduates are entering the workforce as President Obama continues to heap piles of national debt, like a wet blanket, on our economy," said Mason Harrison, spokesman for Romney's campaign in Nevada. "He's glossing over some of the things that are disproportionately hurting young people."

Thomas McAllister, president of UNLV's College Republicans, said academic scholarships are paying for most of his education, while he is working to pay the rest of his tuition. He said the real issue isn't student loans, but what graduates are going to do for work once they're out of school.

"This is all Democratic hyperbole," McAllister said.

While the young Democrats will be inside UNLV's Cox Pavilion listening with hundreds of others to Obama speak, McAllister said the young Republicans will be protesting outside.

Reporter Kyle Potter contributed to this story. Contact Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919. Follow @lmyerslvrj on Twitter.