WASHINGTON Historically black colleges such as Florida A&M University will get an additional $61 million over the next decade under changes in student-loan policy that President Barack Obama signed into law Tuesday.

"We need to invest that money in our students," Obama told students at Northern Virginia Community College. "By cutting out the middle-man, we'll save American taxpayers $68 billion in the coming years."

About 60 percent of the 4.7 million minority undergraduates nationwide are attending historically black colleges, according to Melody Barnes, director of Obama's Domestic Policy Council.

The additional funding will allow those institutions will be able to reduce class size and otherwise improve their scholastic programs, she said.

"Over time, these colleges and universities have tended to do a lot more with a lot less," Barnes said. "These dollars will allow them to help shore up their programs."

The federal government has long subsidized loans for college students and provided repayment to private lenders when borrowers default. Under the new law, the federal government will process all the loans and distribute grants and other aid to students rather than subsidizing banks.

Republicans complained that under the program, the government will gouge students with loans. The government will keep interest rates the same on loans, despite being able to provide the loans less expensively than private lenders, and distribute the difference in grants and other aid.

"Nineteen million college students are going to be unhappy when they find out that this latest Washington takeover overcharges them on their student loans to help pay for the new health care law and other government programs," said Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, chairman of the Republican Conference. "Any savings should go to the students, not the government."

Republicans also raised concerns about job losses from driving private lenders out of the student-loan business. For example, about 600 jobs at a Sallie Mae loan processing center in Panama City were threatened by the legislation.