Kudos to Obama:

President Barack Obama unveiled a plan Wednesday to ease the burden of student debt, speaking in personal terms about the high cost of college.

Under the plan, Americans would be able to consolidate and reduce interest rates on their student loans. A second measure would move up the start of a program approved by Congress that caps monthly student-loan payments for borrowers with low incomes, from 2014 to 2012.

It is the latest in a string of narrowly tailored moves designed to jolt the economy in the face of congressional gridlock. Neither action requires congressional action.

…The centerpiece of the Obama plan would allow the estimated 5.8 million people who hold both direct government student loans and government-backed private loans to consolidate their debts into one government loan.

The switch would help borrowers because the U.S. would essentially be refinancing the private loan at the lower government rate.

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