Mitt Romney, doing that etch-a-sketch thing, has apparently decided that he disagrees with party leaders, such as they are, and supports the Obama administration’s plan to maintain the lower interest rates on student loans that will expire this year unless Congress takes action.
The Obama campaign, however, objects that Romney’s still going to hike college costs for Americans. According to a piece by Benjy Sarlin at Talking Points Memo:
But the Obama campaign is keeping up the pressure on him over college affordability, noting that the House GOP budget he has endorsed includes cuts to Pell Grants and other education funding. It also accused him of talking tough on the deficit while still trying to reassure Americans that popular programs – like the student loan rates – would still be affordable and declining to make public most of his planned cuts.
“Mitt Romney continues to make promises that he can’t keep,” Obama spokeswoman Lis Smith said in a statement. “While he previously endorsed the Ryan budget, which would make deep cuts to Pell Grants and allow student loan rates to double, and last week said that he would gut the Department of Education to pay for his tax plan, today we heard yet another—and contradictory—position from Romney on student loans.
That’s because, as I’ve pointed out before, Mitt Romney doesn’t actually care about college costs all that much.
Earlier this year he said essentially that college costs were simply not the responsibility of government and Americans should “shop around” in order reduce the cost of college.
