Political Quotes

“2011 marked an unfortunate milestone in our country's financial picture when, for the first time in American history, student loan debt actually exceeded credit card debt, which again by itself is just a huge statement in terms of the challenges that families, middle class families and working families, are facing today in terms of trying to deal with the cost of higher education. The value of a higher education degree or post-high school degree, which is sometimes debated in the media, still I believe is indisputable, and the statistics certainly demonstrate that. At a time when our national unemployment rate is 8.3 percent, if you drill down deeper you'll learn that for those with less than a high school degree, the unemployment rate is 16.5 percent. Those with a high school degree, it's 10.7 percent. Those with some college is 8.5 percent, and those with a bachelor's degree or higher is 4.5 percent. So the stakes could not be higher for young people all across our country that we must deal with the mounting cost of higher education and provide mechanisms for them and their families to actually finance it and pay for it. In 2007, the Democratic-controlled Congress passed the College Cost Reduction Act, which was a terrific measure that cut the interest rates for the Stafford Student Loan program, the federally subsidized student loan program which provided some stability and affordability for middle class families, from 6.8 percent down to 3.4 percent.…”