Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

Young people should have access to high quality education, regardless of where they live or their ability to pay. I owe much of my success to strong public neighborhood schools. Every child deserves the same. Colorado's public school funding system has left too many children behind. In Congress, I will fight cuts in funding and voucher proposals that will only make this problem worse for Colorado's families.

America has the best colleges, universities, and technical training in the world, but all too often our students cannot afford to pursue their education. Americans owe over $1.48 trillion in student loan debt. That's about $620 billion more than the total U.S. credit card debt. We must ensure that student loans are affordable, costs of higher education are reasonable, and that community colleges and technical training opportunities are available and reliable so that job training and re-training for tomorrow's economy is available to all Americans. All hardworking students should have the option to pursue education or advanced training without fear of a massive price tag. Hardworking students too often face the choice of bypassing higher education or taking on the burden of overwhelming student debt.

Our young people should not have to make the choice between an education and eventually owning a home. Congress, I will support legislation to allow people to re-finance and consolidate student loans, lower the costs of education and advanced training, and provide loan forgiveness to those who work in public service careers.

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