On the recordSeptember 6, 2016
I thank the gentleman from California for leading us in this Special Order to focus on what is a very strong concern that some in the House have for the costs of higher education. We have prided ourselves as a society on our intellect and our intellectual capacity. That has driven all sorts of entrepreneurship. It has driven new product lines, prototypes that are developed. It really provides for a comeback as an economy, based on the intellect that we can drive into the equation for us as an American society. So it is very important to be able to make certain that whatever those skills, those talents, those abilities, those likes, those passions are of students out there, that they pursue their intellectual development in a way that is not stifled or diminished by the cost of student loans. As you heard from Representative Garamendi, that loan activity-- student loan debt--rivals that of automobile loans and house loans. Something of the caliber of $1.2 trillion in debt for student loans is not a driving factor that will build our economy. It is one that will have people paying for years and decades for the experience of a higher education. People are adjusting their dreams, they are adjusting their goals, simply by looking at what debt they can assume or what the salary structure may be. That is telling us we are not fitting our skill set or our intellectual ability to the most appropriate journey that we can travel as students because of the debt situation.…
