In January 2007, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5, The College Student Relief Act of 2007, designed to phase in an interest rate reduction to 3.4 percent by July 1, 2011. The five-year reduction would then revert back to today’s fixed, 6.8 percent rate on January 1, 2012.

The proposal is not yet law, as it must also be voted on by the Senate and signed into law by the President.

If H.R. 5 becomes law, the interest rate for undergraduate subsidized loans will be different from unsubsidized loans for the first time. Unsubsidized Staffords and graduate-level subsidized loans would remain fixed at 6.8 percent.

With the changes made last year in the Higher Education Reconciliation Act (HERA), keeping track of the interest rates and different fees can be a challenge. The table below shows both the interest rate proposal under H.R. 5 and the HERA changes together: