On the recordJuly 23, 2014
I again want to thank Mr. Kline and all the hardworking folks on Education and the Workforce, the Members and especially the women and men of the staff. The Upstate of South Carolina, Mr. Chairman, is home to several higher education institutions, public and private, large and small, and the issue of education affordability is front and center. And, frankly, Mr. Chairman, families are struggling trying to be able to plan for their kids' future. I know that, both because I have the benefit of representing these families and I hear from them and I also know it anecdotally, Mr. Chairman. I have a 17-year-old daughter, and while she is blessed in many ways compared to her contemporaries, lots and lots of her friends come to the house from time to time. We preach to people that the road to prosperity is paved with hard work and education, but when this road is riddled with potholes called ``unsustainable debt,'' I don't know how we can expect them to get to the end. You figure out what the cost of education is. In many of these instances, these children are the first ones in their family to try to go to school. And so they are looking at me. They have done well in high school. They have done everything we have asked them to do, and they are staring, in some instances, at massive amounts of debt just so they can do what we promised them that if you work hard and you get an education, the pathway to prosperity will be paved for you.…
