Political Quotes

“I have spoken in the Senate before about how the rising cost of a college education is putting a higher education--the American dream--out of reach for many middle-class American families. When I went to college, middle-class families could pay for the public college tuition and fees of their children for less than 5 percent of their income. It stayed that way until 1980. Since then, however, college costs have skyrocketed and middle-class incomes have stagnated. The result is that today it takes almost 9 percent of the average family's income to send one--just one--child to a public college. And, if you go to a private college or university, tuition and fees will eat up 35 percent of your income. Who can afford that? Not many middle-class families that I know. Many young people today must choose between going heavily into debt or not going to college at all. And, as the debt burden gets heavier and heavier, more and more middle-class kids will not even have that choice. They simply will not be able to go to college. And, this is happening at a time when we as a Nation can least afford it. Educating our work force is one of the best investments we as a society can make, and it is one of the best measurements of future economic well-being. According to one study, a more educated population has been responsible for nearly one-third of America's economic growth since the Great Depression.”