Political Quotes

“I am speaking today on the need to Stop the Student Loan Interest Rate Hike Act of 2012. It is obvious how hard it is to pay for college these days. It is not just hard for poor people--and we have some programs that help poor people out at the Federal level, Pell grants in particular, and that is a good thing. But you can be making well above the Pell grant allowance level, well above the income that you need for a Pell grant, and have a difficult time paying for college. College is extremely expensive. The average private college cost a year is over $30,000, and the average public cost has gone way up. With all the cutbacks at all the Federal, State, and local levels, it is about $17,000. If you figure that if you are an average family anywhere in America making $65,000 or $70,000, $17,000 a year after you pay your taxes and pay your mortgage and pay for the necessities of life is a heck of a lot of money. Wisely, the Federal Government has provided some loans. A few years ago, under the leadership of Senator Kennedy, we decided to have the Federal Government pay for those loans because when the banks did it, it ended up being far more expensive than it had to be. Those loans were originally 6.8 percent around when the banks did it. They went down and down, and they settled to a nice level of 3.4 percent. Now 3.4 percent is still interest.…”