Issues & AdvocacyFederal

Congress Extends Current Student Loan Rates, Avoids Tax on Architects
By Christina Finkenhofer, Manager, Federal Relations

Last week, Congress passed a transportation bill that included an important extension of current student loan interest rates. The $100 billion package ensures that federally funded highway and infrastructure projects across the nation will not be disrupted, saving 2.9 million jobs in the process, while preventing a student loan interest rate hike, scheduled to go into effect July 1.

While neither side is happy with the finished product, the student loan interest rate provision is one that Democrats and Republicans, as well as the AIA, support. However, in earlier versions of this extension, Senators proposed that the extension of lowered rates would be paid for by an increased payroll tax on architecture and other professional service firms, organized as S corporations.

As the AIA emphasized in a letter to Senate leaders, while architects understand the need for lowered interest rates on student loans, and support the extension of current rates, it cannot be on the backs of the very small businesses that are expected to hire these students.

Thanks to the efforts of AIA members and small businesses across the nation, the final extension provision avoided this tax hike on architects. The AIA commends Congress for extending the current student loan interest rates, and doing so without raising taxes on architecture firms.

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