[VIDEO] Rep. Justin Amash responds to student protest over student loan rates: ‘Government has caused the price of education to go way up’

Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich) responded on Wednesday to a protest organized by Campus Progress in which students demanded Congress pass legislation that would freeze interest rates for student loans.

“I would say government has caused the price of education to go way up,” Amash told Campus Reform. “There is so much government regulation in the system, so much government in the student loan industry, that you have the price of education constantly skyrocketing.”

WATCH: Rep. Justin Amash tells student protesters government is the problem, not the solution

On Wednesday morning, more than 200 students from all 50 states met at the U.S. Capitol to protest the impending doubling of student loans on July 1.

In an exclusive interview with Campus Reform, however, Amash argued a free market approach to the student loan industry would “reduce the prices over time.”

“What we really need is a more market oriented system to take government out of the system, to encourage competition, to encourage schools and the loan industry to compete for the assets, to compete for their business,” said Amash.

Amash added Congress is actively working to lower the rates of student loans, but again reiterated his view that government should ultimately leave the industry.

“We are introducing some market oriented reforms into the system to help the interest rates go down but we really need to move toward a more private system that would encourage competition and help reduce prices in the long run.”

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @oliverdarcy. @KCTimpf also contributed to this report.