It’s Past Time for Debt-Free College
Washington DC – Congresswoman Barbara Lee released the following statement in support of the Congressional Progressive Caucus resolution to give students access to debt-free college:
“I am proud to join my colleagues in the Congressional Progressive Caucus in introducing this resolution calling for debt-free college for all.
In today’s economy, the single best way to get ahead is to obtain a college degree. Yet, the rising cost of higher education is putting a quality education further out of reach for too many. Young people and their families are seeing their futures’ slip through their fingers.
As college costs continue to skyrocket, young people and their families face an impossible choice: abandon college or graduate with mountains of debt. In America, student loan debt has reached a crisis point, totaling more than $1 trillion.
For low-income students, for whom a college degree is absolutely essential to leveling the economic playing field, tuition and student debt are too often an insurmountable barrier.
Students and their families should not be forced to make these impossible choices.
Congress should be providing student pathways to debt-free higher education. As a member of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees education funding, I will keep fighting for greater resources to help student and their families attend and afford college.”
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Congresswoman Lee is a member of the Appropriations and Budget Committees, the Steering and Policy Committee, is a Senior Democratic Whip, former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and co-chair of the Progressive Caucus. She serves as chair of the Whip’s Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity.