Despite a veto threat from the White House, on Friday the Republican-led House passed a bill that would prevent an interest rate spike on millions of federal student loans. Interest rates will double this summer if Congress does not agree on a measure. But a doubling of interest rates would not have a significant impact on Georgia students.

Students who already have subsidized Stafford loans would not be impacted because their rates are already set. The legislation would only impact students who apply for the loans in the 2012-2013 school year.

Tracy Ireland is with the Georgia Student Finance Commission. He says the maximum a student can receive is 55 hundred dollars. Even if the loan rate doubles, interest payments would only go up 9 dollars a month., and students wouldn't pay any interest until after they graduate.

“If you can offer students a lower cost of borrowing, that’s a good thing. And anything that helps students save money and help pay for college, that’s a good thing. But on a student by student level, it doesn’t appear to be as big an impact.”

Ireland says in the 2010-2011 school year, 150 thousand college students in Georgia took advantage of subsidized Stafford loans.

Tags: Georgia Student Finance Commission, subsidized Stafford loans, Tracy Ireland