Political Quotes

“Madam President, late last month I brought to Washington 55 or so college presidents from Ohio--presidents of 2-year and 4-year private and public colleges and universities--to discuss a whole host of issues. One subject that always comes up when you talk about young people, when you talk about college, when you talk about universities, is access to higher education, that far too many of our young people simply can't afford to go to college. My wife, a graduate of Kent State some 30 years ago, was privileged in those days even though nobody in her family had ever gone to college. Her dad carried a union card, was a utility worker in Ashtabula, OH, working as a maintenance worker in a local powerplant. She was able to go to school because in those days college was more accessible--Pell grants, some loans, tuition was significantly lower--and she was able to be the first in her family to go to college, and she went to Kent State University. Today it is much harder. Tuition is far too high. Pell grants haven't kept up with the cost of education the way they might have 30 years ago. One of the options we have, the subsidized Stafford loan, which is available to students based on need and is often the main pathway to college for a number of them, is under stress, if you will. If we do nothing, if Congress doesn't do anything, the interest on these critical loans will double for borrowers beginning July 1, 2012.…”