Romney backs extension of low student loan interest rate ASTON, Pa. - As the White House ramps up its push to woo young voters by urging Congress to head off a scheduled increase in student loan interest rates, GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney struck back Monday, throwing his support behind an extension of the current rates at a campaign event outside Philadelphia. The former Massachusetts governor made the announcement at a press availability with U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, the first joint appearance of Romney and the Florida Republican whose name is often floated as a top choice for his running mate. "There's one thing that I wanted to mention, that I forgot to mention at the very beginning, and that was that particularly with the number of college graduates that can't find work or that can only find work well beneath their skill level, I fully support the effort to extend the low interest rate on student loans," Romney said at the end of a seven-minute joint news conference with Rubio. There was some concern that that would expire halfway through the year, and I support extending the temporary relief on interest rates for students as a result of student loans, obviously, in part because of the extraordinarily poor conditions in the job market. The announcement comes on the heels of an Associated Press report showing that half of recent college graduates are jobless or underemployed. Obama devoted his weekly address to the topic of federal student loans, pushing for a renewal by Congress of the 2007 law keeping rates at 3.4 percent. The rates will revert to 6.8 percent in July if Congress does not act. According to the White House, more than 7 million students would be affected by the rate increase. On Tuesday, Obama will travel to Colorado and North Carolina to continue his student-loan push with campaign events at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. On Wednesday, he will visit the University of Iowa. Obama won young voters by a wide margin four years ago, but Romney has often made the case along the trail that young people should support his campaign rather than Obama's because of the country's economic struggles. Romney renewed that argument Monday, contending that young voters "are questioning the support they gave to President Obama three-and-a-half years ago." "I think young voters in this country have to vote for me if they're really thinking of what's in the best interest of the country and what's in their personal best interest, because the president's policies have led to extraordinary statistics," Romney said.