House OKs cuts to student loan rates

By NANCY ZUCKERBROD, AP Education Writer
Wed Jul 11, 7:44 PM ET

Legislation to lower interest rates on student loans and increase aid to poor people who want to go to college won House approval on Wednesday.

To pay for the proposal, lawmakers would cut roughly $19 billion in federal subsidies to banks that issue government-backed student loans.

Budget rules require nearly $1 billion of that savings to go toward reducing the federal deficit, but the rest would go to student benefits.