* White House welcomes more transparency on loans, financing
* Congress in standoff over student loan interest rates
* Obama has focused on education costs on campaign trail
(Updates with quotes, details, Republican position)
By Samson Reiny
WASHINGTON, June 5 (Reuters) – Ten private U.S. colleges and
state university systems announced plans on Tuesday to be more
upfront about the costs of higher education, including detailing
the monthly loan payments students would face after graduation.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden unveiled the initiative with
leaders from Syracuse University, Vassar College, the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and other institutions serving
1.4 million students, or about 5 percent of college enrollees.
Biden said that because 60 percent of jobs in the United
States over the next decade will require a degree beyond high
school, students and their families need a clear plan for how to
pay for post-secondary education.
He told a White House event that the schools’ voluntary plan
to detail financing information was “a very important step.”
“It’s going to empower students and their families to be
back in the driver’s seat when they’re choosing their college
and help pay for that education,” he said.
The White House has focused on college affordability as part
of its outreach to young voters ahead of the Nov. 6 election,
and as Congress struggles to end a standoff over the interest
rates on federal education loans, which are set to double to 6.8
percent on July 1.
Republicans in Congress say they want to keep the rates low
so long as the costs are offset elsewhere in the federal budget.
They have accused Democrats of playing up differences on the
issue for political effect instead of working toward a solution.
But Biden said Republicans were the ones playing games with
student loan rates instead of taking seriously the prospect of
young peoples’ budgets coming under pressure. “This should not
be that hard,” he said in his remarks to the White House forum.
The average student affected by the higher rates would rack
up an additional $1,000 in debt over the course of their loan,
according to White House estimates. Student loans are already
the largest component of U.S. household debt after mortgages.
Obama, a Democrat campaigning for re-election in November,
has said he and his wife Michelle only paid off their student
loans about eight years ago, seeking to contrast himself with
his likely Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, who also attended
top schools but came from a wealthy family.
Obama is set to make education costs the theme of his
remarks to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas later this week.
The other schools pledging more financing openness on
Tuesday were Arizona State University, Miami Dade College, North
Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, the State
University System of New York, the University of Massachusetts
System, the University System of Maryland and the University of
Texas System.
They committed to provide clearer financial information to
incoming students beginning with the 2013-14 school year.
That will include details about the cost of college for one
year and a clear distinction between grants and scholarships,
which do not have to be repaid, and loans, which do. The schools
will provide examples of payments due for federal student loans
after graduation, and give information about default rates.
(Additional reporting by John Crawley; Writing by Laura
MacInnis; Editing by Jackie Frank and Paul Simao)
