WASHINGTON, June 29 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement today after Congress approved a bill to extend current interest rates on Stafford loans for 9 million college students, including 19,000 in Vermont: 

“Young people in Vermont and across the country are facing extraordinary challenges. They are paying three to four times as much as their parents did for a college education. With families already overburdened, it would have been awful to have let interest rates double.

“In Vermont, nearly 70 percent of college graduates are carrying student loan debt, on average about $30,000. This puts Vermont at the sixth-highest student loan debt load in the country. I’m glad the Senate was able to pass this common-sense provision and keep the interest rate on federal subsidized Stafford loans at their current rate of 3.4 percent.”