Dick Durbin: “I thank my colleague from Connecticut, Senator Blumenthal, for joining in this colloquy this afternoon. What we have…”

“I thank my colleague from Connecticut, Senator Blumenthal, for joining in this colloquy this afternoon. What we have tried to do with a number of Senators is to lay out the case that when we go to higher education reauthorization, we owe the taxpayers and we owe families across America the responsibility to look at this industry. What is happening here in inexcusable and unacceptable. It is unfair. Ten percent of the high school graduates, 20 percent of the Federal aid education, 40 percent of all student loan defaults. Senator Murphy pointed to the statistics that came out today. You are in just as bad shape with a diploma from a for-profit school as if you drop out of school at a not-for-profit school. That is a damning statistic, just like the 40 percent in student loan defaults. We cannot continue to look the other way. Wall Street is not looking the other way; they are downgrading these for-profit colleges and universities because they believe this model is flawed. They don't believe it can be sustained. Why do we kid ourselves? Let's apply standards across higher education--standards that are fair to students, fair to families, and fair to the schools--and say to them: This is what we expect as a minimum if you are going to offer higher education to the students across America. I ask unanimous consent that this transcript from Sharyl Attkisson's television program ``Full Measure'' which played last Sunday be printed in the Record.…”