How much of a profit should the federal government be entitled to make on student loans? Now, the possibility that the federal government actually makes money on student loans may sound wildly improbable. Over the last several months we've heard repeatedly that keeping interest rates at the current level of 3.4 percent will "cost" the federal government $6 billion. Republicans want to pay for the reduced interest rates by trimming spending from health programs. Democrats want to go after tax breaks for businesses. But the truth is that taxpayers do quite well by the student loan business. If you think about it just a little, it's not hard to figure out why: The U.S. government pays almost nothing to borrow money that it lends out to college students at much higher interest rates. The current interest rate on a subsidized Stafford loan is 3.4 percent; on an unsubsidized Stafford loan the interest rate is 6.8 percent.
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