Martin Heinrich: “for the first time in our Nation's history the total amount of student loan debt has exceeded the total amount of credit…”

“for the first time in our Nation's history the total amount of student loan debt has exceeded the total amount of credit card debt. This very real problem weighs heavily on families in my home State of New Mexico. Last year Congress narrowly stopped the student loan interest rate hike from going into effect--a rate hike that would have doubled student loan interest rates. As a result, undergraduate students borrowing this year are able to take advantage of reasonable student loan rates. But students who borrowed before this agreement could be paying rates as high as 9 percent. Those who pursued an education to get ahead are literally starting out from behind. Student loan debt is proving to be a debilitating impediment to achieving the American dream. Recently, I met a working mother in southern New Mexico who told me about her family's struggle to raise their children while paying her husband's student loans from a degree he had earned more than two decades ago. Another woman shared her story of going back to school to become a teacher. She is a single mom who wanted to make a better life for herself and her daughter. She got a degree but not without acquiring more than $40,000 in student loan debt. She worries that she will be paying her loans off well into retirement. As a parent, she worries for her daughter who will be entering college and fears that she has no choice but to take out loans to pay for her education.…”