College Cost Reduction Act Of 2007
Floor Speech
COLLEGE COST REDUCTION ACT OF 2007 -- (Senate - July 19, 2007)
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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I wanted to follow up, if I may for a moment, on the point raised by the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts who has just indicated that the effect of this amendment on my home State of Rhode Island would be $16 million less in student loans available for students. I ask the distinguished Senator from North Carolina if this is, in fact, correct? And if it is correct, where does that $16 million go that could otherwise be supporting higher education for students in my State?
Mr. BURR. Let me respond to my colleague that what Senator Kennedy displayed was a simple mathematical calculation. We raise $4 billion and a few in change less money out of the system, and we believe that that is a prudent thing to do based upon the unknown as to whether that would reduce competition. So we have $4 billion less to work with. We have the same challenge, and that is, how do you invest that in a way that families and students feel the beneficial effects. I believe as you look at it and you say that money is now in the system, I can also point to the fact that the competition that exists in the FFELP program savings, the entire program, is $6 billion a year. So if you eliminated it, the $4 billion savings, if it were to knock out all the for-profits, you have lost it on the competition that exists in that system and the lower prices, the elimination of origination fees, the discounts, set aside the fact that we do marketing and we do financial literacy programs that only the private sector seems to be able to do.
I reserve the remainder of my time.
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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, many years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson said:
We have entered an age in which education is not just a luxury permitting some men an advantage over others. It has become a necessity without which a person is defenseless in this complex, industrialized society. We have truly entered the century of the educated man.
Those are important words to ponder as we consider the legislation now before the Senate. I thank Senators Kennedy and Enzi for their extraordinary leadership on this issue as well as so many others, and for the opportunity I have to speak today.
I am here to talk about an initiative that revolutionized higher education in America, and that is the Pell grant. Inside this desk at which I stand are the names of Senators who have occupied it before me. I can actually open this drawer, take out the stuff in the drawer, and in the drawer I can see the names of Senators who have gone before me at the bottom. Here is John O. Pastore of Rhode Island, who served with great distinction and was my last Democratic predecessor in the Senate. It is hard to see because he was not a proud man and wouldn't write it in great big letters, but I can see, very carefully written, ``Pell, RI,'' Senator Pell of Rhode Island. It is a remarkable thing for me to be here in this context because Senator Claiborne Pell and his wife Nuala have long been cherished friends. Senator Pell is both a mentor to me and a constant reminder of the positive impact an individual person can have through public service.
I am so glad the Senator Salazar from Colorado is presiding at this particular moment because I wish to describe to everyone a remarkable event that I was privileged to witness a few years ago. I was at an event in Rhode Island with a number of Senators, including the Senator Salazar. During that event, Senator Pell came to the tent we were all under in his wheelchair. As many of our colleagues know, he habitually uses a wheelchair now. The group became very quiet as he entered out of the respect we in Rhode Island have for this great and dedicated public servant. The Senator from Colorado, Mr. Salazar, went over to Senator Pell, took his hand and shook it and told him: I would not have been able to attend college if it had not been for the support of the Pell grant program. Now, I am standing here before you today, a United States Senator, thanks to the vision and foresight you showed years ago, your vision that every American should be able to get a college education.
It was an unforgettable moment then; it gives me goosebumps to recount it now. It happened because Senator Pell understood the difference that higher education could make in the lives of America's young people--from the Ken Salazar, who now serves with such distinction in this great institution, to those who will seize the opportunities of America in the decades to come.
Today, the program that bears Senator Pell's name is in our hands.
Each spring, high school seniors in Rhode Island and across the country wait anxiously for acceptance letters from the colleges of their choice. I have been through this experience recently with my daughter and all of her classmates. But for many American families, almost as important as those letters from the admissions office are the letters from the financial aid office. I have heard from so many families in Rhode Island who look ahead to the day when their children will go off to college and seize their bright futures, but wonder how they will ever be able to afford it without some form of financial aid, either from the institution itself or from the Federal Government.
As the cost of higher education soars higher, up 35 percent in 5 years, students and parents face ever more difficult financial choices. Many go into debt, not only through Federal student loan programs, but increasingly to private lenders. Many shoulder enormous burdens of debt that can stay with them throughout their lives. When that high school senior receives a Pell grant, money that does not have to be paid back, the dream of college becomes more of a reality.
Since the Pell grant program began, these grants have been a critical form of Federal aid that has helped literally millions of young people across this country achieve a level of education that was previously out of their reach. Unfortunately, Pell grants now represent only 33 percent, one-third, of the total cost of a 4-year public university. Twenty years ago, a Pell grant would have paid 60 percent of that cost.
As higher education for Americans has become more and more important, not just to their individual opportunities but also to our national economy and competitiveness--remember the words of Lyndon Johnson so many years ago: ``We have truly entered the century of the educated man''--we need education to compete. Through that time Pell grants have actually lost value versus the actual cost of college. But the support for low-income students through the Pell grants has slid away over the years, until it is now only 33 percent of the cost of a public university. So we must recommit ourselves to making college affordable to all students.
The Promise grants created by the Higher Education Access Act will guarantee that students who qualify for the maximum Pell grant will receive $5,100 for the 2008-2009 academic year and $5,400 by 2011. For us in Rhode Island, this will mean $10 million in additional grant funds for Rhode Island students next year and, over the next 5 years, $86 million. It will also expand family access to Pell grants, better reflecting today's economic realities.
Senator Pell is part of a strong tradition of Rhode Island Senators who have committed themselves to making higher education accessible to all Americans. This tradition is proudly carried on by Senator Pell's direct successor in this Chamber, my friend, Senator Jack Reed, a champion of higher education access and affordability. I admire his work to provide more Pell grant aid for students who need it the most--those who work and those whose family income is under $30,000.
We see in this Chamber and across the country every day--every year in September when a new group of students go off to college--the tremendous influence the work of Senator Pell has had on the fabric of our Nation and on the lives of the millions of young Americans who have used Pell grants to make their dream of higher education a reality.
I applaud this important legislation. Senator Kennedy and Senator Enzi have worked hard together in a wonderful bipartisan spirit to put together legislation that will advance the strength of our country and the opportunity for our young people. This is a vital step and an important
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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I wanted to follow up, if I may for a moment, on the point raised by the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts who has just indicated that the effect of this amendment on my home State of Rhode Island would be $16 million less in student loans available for students. I ask the distinguished Senator from North Carolina if this is, in fact, correct? And if it is correct, where does that $16 million go that could otherwise be supporting higher education for students in my State?
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