President Barack Obama spoke at a Rose Garden event Friday and urged Congress not to raise student loan rates and called the House Republican's proposal "not smart," reported ABC News.
On July 1, the interest rates of student loans are set to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.
"We can't keep saddling young people with more and more debt, just as they're starting out in life," Obama said in his address.
The Congressional Republicans criticized Obama's speech, calling it a "campaign-style" event.
"We know that the surest path to the middle class is some form of higher education," Obama said, surrounded by college student in suits and dresses. "Earning their degree isn't just the best investment they can make for their future, it's the best investment they can make in America's future."
The President said he was encouraged the House was paying attention to the issue of student loan interest rates, but said the proposal was not smart.
"It fails to lock in low rates for students next year. That's not smart. It eliminates safeguards for lower-income families. That's not fair," Obama said. "It could actually cost a freshman starting school this fall more over the next four years that if we did nothing at all."
Congress faced the same deadline last year, but decided to extend the period of 3.4 percent interest rates because of pressure applied by Democrats at the time. Now another standoff has occurred regarding the exact same issue.
"If this feels like déjà vu all over again, that's because it is," Obama said.
He encouraged students to call, e-mail or tweet their state representatives and express their feelings on the matter.
"You made something bipartisan happen in this town; that's a powerful thing," he said.
Congress has kept the student loan interest rate locked at 3.4 percent since 2007 and lawmakers in Washington are reportedly ready to let the rates coincide with the market rates.
Beth Akers, a member of the Washington-based think tank, the Brookings Institute, agreed that student loan interest rates should be synced with the market rates. Most lawmakers do not want to be known to agree with this idea because it means heightening the interest rates of student loans.
"In the past we've had these fixed interest rates that were set by Congress and at several points in time it has caused a disruption in student lending," Akers told ABC News. "The idea that interest rates should be pegged to the market rate makes sense to most people, but it makes it a tough sell politically because we all know that interest rates are going up."
In addition to the address given at the Rose Garden, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the President, joined by college students, will urge Congress to once again stop an upcoming hike in student loan interest rates on Friday.
