This problem is set to get much worse this summer when federal subsidized student loan rates are set to double, from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent and will further affect our nation’s young people. Last year, Congress passed legislation to extend the lower rate until this year, and now it is back up for debate. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has now introduced a bill into the U.S. Senate to give students the same interest rates as big banks get from the U.S. government: 0.75 percent.

I urge everybody to contact sens. Michael Bennet and Mark Udall as well as Rep. Scott Tipton to support the Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act. Why should our students have to pay nine times the interest as the banks that ruined our economy in the first place?

As a high school student, I feel very strongly about this issue. It will affect me directly, and it is of paramount importance that we all come together in support of this common-sense legislation. It will really help students all across America.

Hank Searfus

Durango