HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Interests Diverge On Interest Rates. “When the White House releases its budget request for the 2014 fiscal year this morning, the plan is expected to include a new method for determining the interest rate for federal loans based on market rates, rather than rates that only Congress can adjust. The proposal has bipartisan support but is strongly opposed by the same student groups that were Obama’s allies on the interest rate issue a year ago (as they have been on many other higher education issues).”