Political Quotes

“as I travel my State, I have held close to 100 roundtables of 15, 20 people gathered together as a cross section of the community in some 65 or 70 Ohio counties. I hear more and more people talking about how difficult it is for middle-class kids, for kids from working families, especially for first-generation and potential first-generation students being able to go to college. We have made some progress in the Senate in the 15, 16, 17 months since the Presiding Officer and I and others have been in this body. One was the College Cost Reduction Act, an investment in America's students. It was a promise that I and my other freshman colleagues campaigned on 2 years ago. We have delivered. The increases in student aid that are beginning to go into effect next week are a downpayment of America's future prosperity, on its future competitiveness. This investment could not have come at a better time. With college costs at an alltime high, neither student aid nor family incomes have been able to keep up. In my home State of Ohio, between 2001 and 2006, the cost of attending college increased 53 percent at 4-year public colleges and universities, and almost 30 percent at 4-year private colleges, 53 percent at public universities, close to 30 percent at 4-year private schools. During this same period, the median household income in Ohio increased only 3 percent.”