Cutting student loan interest rates in half will save the average working- and middle class borrower $4,420 over the life of their loans, according to a new report released by the Alaska Public Interest Research Group (AkPIRG) and its counterpart in Washington DC, USPIRG.

The good news for college students in Alaska and across the nation is that's exactly what the U.S. House did on Jan. 17.

By a vote of 356-71, the House passed legislation to lower the interest rates on student loans over the next five years.

Even Alaska's Rep. Don Young voted in favor of the cut, though he did vote against two other important bills that will help lower healthcare costs and promote renewable energy.

The bill will cut the fixed interest rate on subsidized Stafford loans for undergraduates from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent over the next five years.

Loans originated during the intervening five years will be set at fixed interest rates of 6.12 percent in 2007-08, 5.44 percent in 2008-09, 4.76 percent in 2009-10, 4.08 percent in 2010-11, and 3.4 percent from 2011 forward.

Over the past decade America's college students have had to shoulder a heavy burden of debt to pay for college.

Cutting interest rates on student loans will help millions of working and middle-class students and their families by saving them thousands of dollars in student loan payments.

By lowering interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans, college graduates will save thousands of dollars over the life of their loans.

The average four-year college student starting school in 2007 with subsidized Stafford loans will save $2,280.

When the interest rate cut is fully phased in, the average four-year college student starting school in 2011 with subsidized Stafford loans will save $4,420.

About five and a half million students borrow subsidized Stafford loans every year.

Of those borrowers, nearly three and a half million attend four-year public or private non-profit institutions.

According to the Congressional Research Service, 65 percent of traditional-age subsidized Stafford borrowers come from families with incomes between $26,000 and $91,000.

The median income for an American family of four is $65,000.

Lowering interest rates on loans is quite simply a great first step towards a more affordable college education.

Congress should continue to help students pay for college by increasing need-based federal student aid and passing broad protections for student borrowers, such as limits on the percent of income that can be required for student loan repayment.

Taking these steps will help make a college education affordable to a greater segment of the population.

Steve Cleary is director of the Alaska Public Interest Research Group (AkPIRG), which is based in Anchorage and can be found on the Web at www.akpirg.org.