On the recordMay 17, 2013
The student loan debt is a crisis in this country, Mr. Speaker. More and more students approach me in the district and post on my Facebook about their loan debt. I would like to share an excerpt from the stories for those of my colleagues who may not fully appreciate why it's so critical that we provide our students and families with relief. Sharyn Lawler says this: Please, Congressman Tierney, we need you and your colleagues to get to the crux of the student loan debt crisis ASAP. Many students end up paying double or triple what they actually borrowed to go to college. This is an outrage and seems out of sync with the original mission of the student loan program. People want to pay back fairly what they borrowed, but the system actually seems rigged to make that impossible. Earlier this week, it was reported that the Federal Government will earn $51 billion in profit from student loan borrowers this year, which exceeds the earnings of the Nation's most profitable companies and is roughly equal to the combined income of the four largest U.S. banks by assets. It's time we stop using the Federal student loan program as a profit center for the government. We need to pass legislation that stops the doubling of the student loan interest rate by July 1 and turn our attention to the long- term solution that will help new borrowers as well as the estimated 37 million Americans that have existing student loan debt. ____________________
