Kirk Watson: “as a Nation, we should encourage our young people to strive to achieve their full potential. We must give them the…”

“as a Nation, we should encourage our young people to strive to achieve their full potential. We must give them the resources and opportunities to make their dreams a reality. For many students these dreams begin with access to higher education. But after 6 years of Republican rule, access to college is now out of reach for too many of our Nation's youths. Since 2001, tuition and fees at 4-year public colleges have increased by 40 percent. At the same time, Republicans have made drastic cuts to higher education, including underfunding Pell Grants and cutting the higher education budget by $12 billion this year alone. These cuts not only mean that more students have to take out loans to pay for college, but they will also face higher interest rates as they pay them back unless they refinance by July 1. That is when the Department of Education will raise Federal student loan interest rates to offset the Republican cuts. As Members of Congress, we should be doing everything in our power to make college more accessible and affordable for all students, rather than cutting critical education dollars to fund tax breaks for the wealthy few. ____________________”