Political Quotes

“as we know on a bipartisan basis, the cost of college is skyrocketing, and it is putting in jeopardy access to college and achievement of the American Dream for kids across this entire country. The Education and Labor Committee has taken a number of very concrete steps to try to address that. And this Congress passed a major increase in financial aid, $17 billion, over 5 years. Over the last 10 years, student aid has increased from $37 billion to $86 billion. But every time we raise a dollar in financial aid, if it is a dollar increased in tuition that is burned away, the students are continuing to graduate and swim in a sea of debt. So if we are going to continue on this effort and be successful in making college affordable for average kids wanting to achieve the American Dream, we have to work on both sides of the equation. We have to address the financial aid side, which we are doing our best to do, and do it in the context of enormous budgetary pressures, and we also have to do it on the cost side. And we have to look to our university administrators to work with us to do everything that is possible to constrain the ever-rising cost of college education. Many kids now are graduating with a debt that is equivalent to what was the mortgage on the first house that I bought, and they don't have the home. They do have the education. This amendment is very simple.…”