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WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson today told a group of high school students in Virginia that they should be careful not to incur high levels of credit card debt while in college, according to the Associated Press. U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House education committee, responded today by saying that the high cost of college has already created a massive debt crisis for college students.
“College costs grew 40 percent between 2001 and 2005, leaving many students with no choice but to take on massive amounts of debt in order to get a degree. The typical student graduates from college with $17,500 in federal college loan debt alone – and many more are forced to rely on credit cards to help pay for college. Yet despite these rising costs, this administration and the Republican-controlled Congress have done nothing to alleviate the enormous financial burden that a college education places on today’s students and middle class families.
“It is important that students manage their finances carefully. But for the first time ever, an entire generation of Americans is being forced to go deeply into debt in order to pay for college. We have to do more to help students than simply tell them, ‘be careful with your credit cards’. America’s students and working families urgently need a new direction that makes college more affordable and that lowers the amount of debt students must take on to get a college degree.”
Democrats’ New Direction for America calls for cutting interest rates in half on college loans for student borrowers in the most financial need and for parent borrowers. It also calls for increasing the Pell Grant scholarship.
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