President Obama’s legislation on college debts and loans is keeping students on their toes.

Obama’s proposal seeks to absorb student loans from the private sector of banks into government hands, a move he called a “no-brainer” last fall when the legislation passed a vote in the House of Representatives. He said in his State of the Union address the his idea, if implemented, would finally end unwarranted taxpayer subsidies that go to banks for student loans. The money previously distributed to banks for student loans would amount to $80 billion over the next decade, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis. That money would be re-introduced into the federal education budget, much of it going to affordability assistance, community colleges and public school modernization.

Senior Benjamin Robinson said the plan “might look good on paper, but in the long run, it seems pretty pointless.”

Sophomore Lauralyn Koontz feared that a lack of competition will make student loans an easy avenue to fast income for the federal budget.

“Without the competition for interest rates provided by small businesses, the government would be able to hike-up interest rates as they please,” Koontz said.

The president’s recent push in the world of higher education was introduced in his State of the Union speech last month, when he proposed to give families a $10,000 tax credit for four years of college and increase Pell Grants. Additionally, he said his plan would require students to pay only 10 percent of their income on student loans, and to forgive all their debt in 20 years. Students who choose a career in public service would be completely forgiven in 10 years.

In the same address, Obama also urged colleges to keep their costs down. Thousands of miles from the White House, President Barry Corey has stressed that affordability is important to university leaders, as it is to students.

“Affordability is huge for our students,” Corey said last month. “I think we’re heading in the right direction. We have a long way to go on the issue of affordability, as every school does.”

Regarding the federalization of student loans, the student loan industry, spearheaded by lending giant Sallie Mae, has tried to meet congress halfway. The industry proposes similar re-appropriation of taxpayer dollars, but without the destruction of the private loan framework. The New York Times reported Sunday that the lobbyists backing the banks are putting huge dollar amounts behind the compromised initiative, leveraging unpopular public opinion of government takeovers as well.

Proponents of the bill claim the industry is getting paid by taxpayers to do a job the government can do for free. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan isn’t surprised by the opposition.

“They’ve had a sweet deal,” Duncan said in a White House conference call. “They’ve had this phenomenal deal that taxpayers have subsidized, and that’s a hard thing to give up.”

Some universities are already changing over to federal direct lending systems, including Yale last November. The Department of Education has already deployed training officials in the loan business to schools across the country so that, should Obama’s plan get through Congress, schools will be ready to transition to federal-direct loans by next fall.