Bill > S682

This bill, titled the Comprehensive Student Loan Protection Act, amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish a new method for determining interest rates on federal student loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2013. Specifically, for Federal Direct Stafford Loans, Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loans, and Federal Direct PLUS Loans, the interest rate will be set annually based on the bond equivalent rate of 10-year Treasury bills auctioned before June 1st of that year, plus an additional 3.0 percent. This rate will be fixed for the entire life of the loan, and the Secretary of Education will consult with the Secretary of the Treasury to determine and publish these rates. The bill also mandates that the Comptroller General of the United States will calculate any savings to the federal government resulting from this change, and these savings are to be used for deficit reduction. Furthermore, the budgetary effects of this Act will be determined according to the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, which requires that any new spending or reduction in revenue be offset by other measures.