Report of 30-Something Caucus
REPORT OF 30-SOMETHING CAUCUS -- (House of Representatives - May 04, 2004)
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Ms. LINDA T. SÁNCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I am here this evening to talk about an issue that is very near and dear to my heart and that is the need for access to higher education. A long time ago, a college education was reserved for the well-to-do, not something that an ordinary citizen could readily achieve. But over time, that changed and now a college education is no longer a privilege of just a few but a necessity to achieve any kind of job security in our very fluid economy.
But, sadly, just as a college education has become an absolutely crucial component of obtaining a good job, the Bush administration is making it harder and harder to access and afford a college education. As a 30-something Member of Congress, and I will admit to the gentleman from Florida I am in my 30s, I am here to speak on behalf of young people who are struggling to achieve the American dream of a decent college education. Rather than burdening today's young people with overwhelming debt, there are several things that we can do to help. We need to slow down the tuition hikes and encourage States to maintain their commitment to higher education. And we should double the Pell grant award and make it available year round.
Finally, we should implement Senator JOHN KERRY's idea for $50 billion in tax credits to help Americans afford all 4 years of college. The typical loan debt has nearly doubled over the past 10 years for the average student, with 64 percent of students needing to borrow money to finance their college education. I too struggled to make college and law school a reality. As it turned out, all seven children in my family were fortunate enough to obtain a college degree. But we all did it with the assistance of Federal grants and Federal loans, loans, I might add, that I will be paying off until I am in my 60s.
Despite the fact that we came from immigrant parents who did not speak much of the language when they first got here and were of limited economic means, all seven of my brothers and sisters and I graduated from a college institution. Most amazingly, however, my mother returned to school after the youngest of her seven children started kindergarten and she went to night school to earn her 2-year degree and later transferred to a 4-year institution and graduated from college in her late 40s to become a bilingual education teacher. That is how strongly she believed in a quality education and in showing and demonstrating to us that education was truly the key to the American dream in this country.
I find that the current atmosphere that works against students who are trying to finance their way through school is really something that undermines many of the American values that we hold dear. Overwhelming debt can force students to take on jobs to try to work their way through school to the detriment of their education, or in some instances students forgo college all together assuming that the expensive and exorbitant tuition hikes are far out of their reach. In the past year alone, tuition has increased an average of 14 percent at 2- and 4-year public institutions, and it has increased 6 percent at 4-year private schools. That is just in 1 year. That is not even counting the fact that the cost of living keeps rising and things like rent and food and books go up as well.
In response, President Bush has ignored the tuition problem, cut or frozen student aid, and levied higher taxes onto students. If we do not have an education President, then we definitely need to have an education Congress. I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to break with their President and fight for education support for our young people. Let us send the President legislation making education more affordable and more accessible to all, and let us dare him to sign it. The bottom line is that the leadership in Congress needs to stop talking about education and actually do something about it.
I again thank the gentleman from Florida for allowing me to speak this evening.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I thank the gentlewoman from California so very much. I want to say on just a few of her points, talking about the real cost of tuition, we talk about students, we talk about the cost of young people having to foot the bill, we talk about students leaving the college experience, the higher educational experience if they get through, if they can afford it, carrying on a great deal of debt that starts them off in the working world already in the hole. They went to school to be able to help America be stronger and also help themselves to be able to get the kind of job they need to be able to provide for their families and be able to buy a home.
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And what she is saying is very real. She took part in the 30-Something or the Young Leaders conference that the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) had, and we all participated in it. And I just would appreciate it if she could share a few of the stories that some of the students shared with her about their experiences about trying to afford college because many of them work here in this House, many of them attend school right now, and they are running into you know what trying to pay for college.
Ms. LINDA T. SÁNCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I have heard from a number of young people all across the United States about the burden of taking on that debt and trying to even work their way through college at the same time that they are assuming debt. It is very common now that a degree that used to take 4 years in order to complete now takes 5 or 6. I have heard of people who have actually, once they have graduated, have been so saddled with the huge debt of trying to repay their student loans. They have had to move in with their parents because the job economy and the job prospects are not bright for them.
In many instances it can take several years for them to be self-sufficient, actually land a job to where they can be self-sufficient. Meanwhile, their student loan payments come due because they can only defer them for so long, and what we are finding is many young people, after they have worked to try to either get a 4-year degree or an advanced degree, meet somebody, fall in love, and marry, they are having to wait an average of 4 years longer to purchase their first home because of the staggering student loan payments that they have to make monthly, and it is a very sad thing because I was brought up with my parents telling me that education is the key to success in this country. If one gets a college degree and a good education, the world is their oyster, and that is simply not the case for many young people today.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, we have two different educational experiences beyond high school now. We have our 2-year institutions that are community colleges that many working people have to use to be able to receive a higher education, not because they could not get into a 4-year institution. Many times they have to stay home, Mr. Speaker, to help pay bills. They cannot afford, because of a lack of income or a sick family member, to move away.
So they do their first 2 years at community colleges. Then we have another group of individuals that graduate from high school, moving on to a 4-year institution, and they also have to foot their own way through college, or a parent has to pick up an additional job or ask other family members to participate in helping to pay for one's educational experience.
And while the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Linda T. Sánchez) is here, I want to make sure that we share with the American people what is going on in this Congress now. Many times people ask, Okay, Democrats, what do you stand for? I mean, it is one thing to describe the problem. It is another thing to make sure that we can talk about and act upon solutions. And I will tell my colleagues that as it relates to doubling the maximum Pell grant award to $11,600 by 2010, I must say that this is a commitment that should be fulfilled because right now we have the typical student that nearly doubled themselves in debt.
Sixty-four percent of them are $17,000 in debt when they walk across the stage, thinking that they are going to a job, that is, if they have a job, that may be able to help pay down that debt, and we have more students in America, young people, whose loans are falling in default, and one of the things that I picked up at the conference, so it is so very important that we listen, the banks are now marching to the Hill with the majority. Republicans are saying, well, we have a plan for student loans. And I get kind of concerned when banks start coming with a plan for students.
And I do not know, I am not speaking from experience, but I know people who have gone through this. Right now we have banks, Mr. Speaker, that if one overdraws, it is a $29 fee. These are the same individuals that are coming to the Hill that are getting the attention of congressional leaders that they have a plan for young people. They are trying to do away with making sure that students can have a fixed rate to be able to make sure that they can pay their loans down, and when we do not have this fixed rate, the Congressional Research Service that we call CRS said "by eliminating the current consolidation low-fixed rate benefit would force a typical student who has borrowed within $17,000 in debt to pay an additional ..... "
This is a tax, Mr. Speaker. I am going to put it this way. When we have a $7.1 trillion deficit, the highest deficit in the history of the republic, and at the same time we are providing tax cuts to millionaires who are not even asking for it because we can, this is what happens. We continue to fleece our future and fleece the dreams of these Americans. And I just want to mention, before I yield to the gentlewoman, that under the fixed rate as it relates to interest, $3,948. Under a variable rate, that is the banks' plan, the big banks' plan that I must say is getting wind behind the sails here in this Congress, which is the reason why I am glad the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) has brought us together because she needs the opportunity to be the Speaker of this House so that we can get some legislation and make sure we insulate the protections that students have now, under a variable rate, $9,432.
So when we look at it, $3,948 under a fixed; under a variable where banks make more money, students pay longer, and more students go into default, $9,432, this is counterproductive. These are the things that we have to talk about, and these are the things that we have to legislate against.
Ms. LINDA T. SÁNCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, if I could add a couple of things on to that, not only are the banking institutions trying to change the law to move away from a fixed rate to a variable rate, they are also trying to pass along the costs of generating these loans, more of the costs, on to students. Right now when students trying to take out students loans, they are responsible for their loan generation fees which end up being about $500 on average. So that is a further burden that is added to the students. Now they are trying to pass more of those costs on to the students.
And, sadly, if we think about this in the long term, banks get these loans guaranteed by the Federal Government. That is our tax dollars. And every time somebody defaults on a student loan, it is the taxpayers who are coming to the rescue to pick it up. The banks have very little risk for these loans, and yet they want to make the interest rates fluid so that they can generate more profit, all the while fully knowing that if the loan becomes unbearable for a student to pay back and they default, they do not have to worry about it because the taxpayers step in and pay the bill.
I just think that is wrong fundamentally to put that burden back on the taxpayers when we should be trying to move in the other direction to make these loans affordable for students so that they do not default so that the payback rate increases, which, again, is more sound for the economy and again saves taxpayers money in the long run.
So with that, I will yield back to the gentleman and allow him to continue on the discussion on higher education this evening.
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