FARGO – North Dakota agriculture commissioner candidate Ryan Taylor proposed a fixed 1 percent interest rate for student loans at a news conference Thursday.
Under the current program, students have the option of a fixed rate of 5.29 percent or a variable rate of 1.73 percent a year.
Taylor estimates that changing the Bank of North Dakota program to a fixed 1 percent would save graduates $6 million over the first 10 years.
Taylor emphasized that North Dakota should be investing not only in “hard assets,” but also in “intellectual infrastructure.”
Reducing student loan interest, he said, would draw students to trade schools and colleges, and that would mean more workers for North Dakota.
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There are two ways the proposal could be passed if Taylor is elected:
As the agriculture commissioner is one of three sitting members on the state industrial commission, he could first propose the change there, he said.
The proposal could also be pursued in the Legislature, and Taylor said that would have to be the case if the Bank wanted statutory authority.
