Ron Kind: “college is an investment that pays off over a lifetime. Median annual earnings for a year-round, full-time worker with a…”

“college is an investment that pays off over a lifetime. Median annual earnings for a year-round, full-time worker with a bachelor's degree are about 60 percent higher than earnings for those with a high school diploma. Congress passed the Higher Education Act in 1965 to provide all Americans with greater post-secondary educational opportunities. This bill is a missed opportunity to make college more affordable, to boost America's economic competitiveness, and to invest in American's continued prosperity. If I supported this bill, I would not be able to look the students in my congressional district in the eye because I would know I had not done all I could to help better their futures. Cost factors already prevent 48 percent of college-qualified high school graduates from attending a four-year institution and 22 percent from attending any college at all. No person in this country should ever be excluded from attending college because they cannot afford it. During Committee consideration, we offered an alternative that would have saved the typical student more than $6,000 on his or her college loans and provided a $500 boost to the maximum Pell grant--at no additional cost to taxpayers. I am disappointed that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle were unwilling to work with us to include this proposal in the final bill. There are, however, several provisions in the bill that I support.…”