New York, NY - Congressman Charles B. Rangel spoke to a packed auditorium on June 4th at the education event he hosted at Frederick Douglass Academy.  The event featured addresses by Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education Martha J. Kanter, Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education Dennis M. Walcott, and President of City College of New York Lisa Staiano-Coico.  Rangel organized the event to help provide students, their parents, and educators the tools and information they need to make college a reality for students in his congressional district.

"Everyone in this country should have the opportunity to receive a quality college education at an affordable price," said Rangel. "College opens doors to a brighter future for our nation and all of our nation's children. I have fought for this my entire career and have no intention of stopping any time soon."

The primary theme of Rangel's speech was making higher education more affordable and accessible.  On April 25th the total amount of student loan debt in the U.S. topped $1 trillion dollars.  Moreover, the interest rate on subsidized student loans is set to double on July 1st.

Rangel is the sponsor of the Student Loan Interest Deduction (SLID) Act, which would help to relieve students from the burden of paying off their debt, by increasing the tax deduction for student loan interest rates to $5,000 for singles and $10,000 for married couples. The bill would also remove the income restriction on the deduction and repeal the current 5-year limitation on deducting student loan interest from federal taxes.

"This country needs these students to go to college after high school," said Kanter.  "We have a challenge that President Obama has put out to the nation that by 2020 we would have the best educated, most competitive workforce."

Under Secretary Kanter, the event's keynote speaker, discussed the obstacles to higher education and the measures that should be taken by the federal government and by schools and families to help students secure a college degree. 

"Everyone deserves the opportunity to learn and benefit from our great country's renowned system of colleges and universities.  That is why I have long called for the passage of the DREAM Act, which would tear down barriers that prevent hundreds of thousands of young Americans from earning their degrees." 

The DREAM Act would allow 360,000 high school graduates who are undocumented with a legal means to work and attend college in the United States, and provide incentives for another 715,000 children of illegal immigrants between the ages of 5 and 17 to finish high school and pursue higher education.

Said Rangel: "Education is critical for one's success. As a nation, we must continue to invest in our education system to foster a generation of Americans fluent in science, mathematics, and liberal arts that can continue to lead our country forward in the 21st century. It is absolutely crucial for us to provide a quality learning environment in which our students can flourish."

Rangel also spoke about improving America's secondary education system and about the Rebuilding America's Schools Act, H.R. 2394, which he introduced last June.  The bill would increase aid for school construction and renovation across the country and extend the Qualified School Construction Bond (QSCB) and the Qualified Zone Academy Bond (QZAB) program through 2015.