As members of the House of Representatives and the White House vote on and discuss the bill to maintain low interest rates on student loans, the real victims conduct their daily lives oblivious to the real underlying reason for the issue.

President Barack Obama’s threat to veto did not affect the House vote as they passed the bill with a 215-195 vote.

The bill would strip $5.9 billion from a program within the health care law to pay to keep rates on subsidized undergraduate loans at 3.4 percent.

Many expect the bill to experience the same fate as a Democrat-sponsored bill on the same issue, which failed at the Senate level last Tuesday.

Still, students on campus expressed their feelings over the student loan issue.

“I just want so much to complete my degree without an excessive student loan,” said Jacob Chavarria, a senior at CSU East Bay. “As far as I am concerned, I am really not interested in the nuts and bolts. I just want them to keep interest rates low so that when I start paying back my loan, I will be able to see an end in sight.”

“The $5.9 billion from the health care law to pay to keep rates on subsidized undergraduate loans at 3.4 percent is a good idea,” said Shawna Wilson, a part-time professor at Foothill College.

Like the president, Wilson believes that the money to sustain low interest rates for students must come from some place.

“The term ‘Big Government’ is much too negative,” said Wilson.

Though not aware of many details about the bill, CSUEB junior Ashley Mendez did not get caught up in the different ways that Democrats and Republicans will keep the interest rates low.
“They both seem to want to reduce the interest rate of my loan,” stated Mendez.

Mendez was not concerned about the process that the House of Representatives has to take to pass the bill, or whether the president vetoes it.

“Students don’t care about the political process; we just want results that make our tuition and paying back for it more affordable,” she said.

Other students, such as freshman Mikiela Aquino look at this as something that could change a generation.

“Well, at least both Democrats and Republicans agree that the rates on student loans should be low for us,” said Aquino. “That may be the only way we will be able to pay for the education we will need to fix the problems they have created for our generation.”