Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I take this time to talk about a fair shot for American families on quality, affordable higher education. It is very appropriate that the Senator from New Jersey is presiding because he has been one of the great leaders in the Senate on the affordability of higher education, and it has been a pleasure to work with him. Let me go through some of the numbers because they are somewhat shocking. We have 20 million students who enter college every year, and 60 percent will exit with student debt. The majority of students who now attend college will have to borrow money in order to be able to get a college education. Thirty-seven million Americans today have college loans that are outstanding. Yes, we know some are young professionals and some are older people. I was surprised to learn that almost 8 million Americans over the age of 50 have college loans that are still outstanding. So this is a burden many American families will have for the rest of their lives. The average debt today is $29,000, and that number is rising dramatically every year. So when a student graduates, the average debt they carry is $29,000. There is $1.2 trillion in outstanding college loans--more than credit card debt.…”