A small group of Ohio University student volunteers held a press conference outside the Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium yesterday in support of President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.
Sam Ribeiro, Shannon Welch, and Nicole Robertson spoke in support of President Obama’s plan to maintain student loans.
“When I heard that interest rates on student loans were going to double this year, it was like a punch to the stomach,” said Welch, a political science major and president of College Democrats. “The clock is ticking.”
The current interest rate on student loans is 3.4 percent. In July, congress will vote on whether or not to extend the current federal loan interest rates. If not, the interest rate will double.
Obama’s plan for student loans “couldn’t be more at odds” with the proposed Republican budget by Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, said Welch.
“The Ryan-Romney budget would cost students at least $1000 a year,” she said.
The volunteers encouraged Ohio University students to support President Obama’s re-election campaign to maintain the current student loan rates. Welch explained that part of her job involves making calls to remind students to vote come election season.
“The next generation needs jobs, and for that they need an education and a college degree,” said Robertson, an environmental health science major. “And to get that degree, they need to be able to pay for it.”
For Ribeiro, a political science major who pays out-of-state tuition, the prospect of the interest rate doubling was “very frightening”.
“We’re not looking for handouts,” he said. “We’re just asking that student loan interest rates stay where they are.”
