Political Quotes

“Madam President, next month students all over the United States will begin graduating from college. There is a lot of pride in that experience. Family and friends will gather and celebrate. These young graduates are going to be filled with hope and expectation, and gratitude to those who helped them reach this milestone in their lives. But they are also going to be graduating with debt--in some cases massive amounts of debt. Ninety-six percent of for-profit college students will graduate with a debt of $33,000. Fifteen percent of them--one out of six--will default on their loans within 2 years. There is now more than $1 trillion in outstanding student loan debt. As I have mentioned on the Senate floor several times, a little over a year ago, for the first time in history, student loan debt in America surpassed credit card debt. One of the reasons there has been such a huge influx is that college costs continue to rise at unsustainable rates. Tuition fees at 4-year schools have rocketed up 300 percent from 1990 through 2011. Over the same period, broad inflation was just 75 percent. Even health care costs rose at half the rate of the cost of higher education. The average for-profit college costs $30,900 a year in tuition and fees. Private nonprofit institutions are not too far behind. The average tuition and fees run about $26,600. Schools with larger endowments charge even more--upwards of $50,000 to $57,000 in total fees.…”