Celia Israel: “In 5 days, the student loan interest rate will double. It will go from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. That is a $4,500…”

“In 5 days, the student loan interest rate will double. It will go from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. That is a $4,500 increase for many college students. At a time when they're struggling to make ends meet, struggling to pay their tuition and their housing expenses to prepare to join the workforce and build careers and at a time when they're struggling to pay their debts, we're going to increase their debt. I want to commend to my colleagues a report that just came out from the Joint Economic Committee staff that talks about how student loan debt has skyrocketed over the past several years. Here's how the study concludes: The increasing debt burden presents challenges for recent graduates just beginning their careers and poses a potential risk to the economy, since individuals who shoulder heavier debt balances may delay purchasing a home, buying a car, starting a family, and saving for retirement. On average, recent graduates left college with student loan debt of 60 percent of their annual income. Mr. Speaker, 60 percent of their annual income will be spent paying back their debts from college. And if we don't compromise, it's going to be even more than that. I've always believed, and I know many of my colleagues have always believed, that you build an economy by building the middle class. And you expand the middle class by making sure that middle class families can afford college and that college is accessible.…”