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To help ease the burden of loan debt for students, an announcement was made introducing new measures by President Obama recently. For students as well as parents, a demoralizing and grim picture was projected by the new figures. Students attending four year public colleges must now pay an additional $631 this fall as average in-state tuition and fees.

Full credit loan cost nationally has risen to $8000 which is an all time high. State school students opting for boarding now have to pay at least $17,000 a year says the College Board published tin annual reports on student aid and college costs.

Greater state cuts were prevented by stimulus dollars and there was a great increase in tax credits and federal grants for students which helped keep average fees lower for families. Now however, these days of Washington budget relief are numbered. Washington’s measures did not do anything to hold down prices though it helped some students.

National Centre for Public Policy and Higher Education president Patrick Callan says that money saved through cut budgets go towards balancing rising prices. He says that the past twenty five years have seen constantly rising tuition fees even as more money kept going into financial aid.

Our President’s plan was to precisely address student debt, a direct consequence of rising college prices. Student loan debt this year exceeds credit card debt surpassing $1 trillion. Occupy Wall Street protestors too have their focus on student loan debt.

Two loan relief measures will benefit from Obama’s executive authority. A plan already passed by the Congress that will see a fifteen percent discretionary income to ten percent for maximum federal student loan repayment. This plan will be moved to 2012 from 2014. Instead of 25 years, remaining debt will be forgiven after 20 years.

Borrowers under the Family Education Loan Program and direct lending programs can consolidate into a direct loan. At least 5.8 million borrowers will benefit from this saving hundreds of dollars a month.

These changes will benefit those who are still repaying loans rather than new borrowers. Many more borrowers will be encouraged to benefit from already existing income repayment options. American Council on Education senior vice president Terry Hartle, in his capacity of representing Washington colleges says that the 18 percent decline in state appropriations in the past three years is the cause of rise in tuition fee in eighty percent of colleges.

In 2009-10, the debt of at least 56% of those who completed their bachelor’s degree from four year public colleges averaged around $22,000 which is still lower than $29,000 at non-profit, private universities. Private borrowing has steadily been falling even as these figures are set to rise further.

According to The Institute for College Access and Success president Lauren Asher, this is a big number both practically and psychologically which will impact other choices such as starting a family, purchasing a home, starting a new business and saving for retirement.

Asher and other experts stress on the fact that the amount of loan taken by students is as important as the type of loan they choose. College degree today, in other words, is a very good investment.