Lynn C. Woolsey: “every single American, no matter what circumstances he or she comes from, deserves the opportunity to earn a college…”

“every single American, no matter what circumstances he or she comes from, deserves the opportunity to earn a college degree, but this opportunity should not come at the cost of years of crippling financial debt. That's why the time has come for this Congress to ease the education burden by increasing Pell Grants, reducing interest rates and closing the gap between college costs and financial aid. For the fifth time in 6 years, the college system in California raised tuition. In fact, this fall, students at Sonoma State University in my district will be required to pay nearly $3,000 more a year in tuition. That's a 10 percent increase from their current tuition. We need to do better. We need to work with our colleges to keep costs low. We need to invest in financial aid, and today, we are finally doing that. And it's going to cost $18 billion to help this financial aid increase; $18 billion, about the same as 6 weeks of our occupation in Iraq.”