Achieving the American Dream

All this month, students from across Pennsylvania will receive their college diplomas. For our new graduates and their families, this is a monumental achievement. After years of hard work and long hours studying in the library, they are a step closer to realizing the promise of the American Dream.

I know this because it’s my story, too. With the help of loans and scholarships, I was the first in my family to graduate from a four-year college. If not for the guarantee of financial aid that allowed me to earn a degree in chemistry at Saint Joe’s, I would not have been able to attend law school, to serve in the White House under President Clinton, or to run for Senate today.

I am running so that other Pennsylvanians can have the same opportunities I had. However, the unfortunate reality today is this: more than 70 percent of Pennsylvania students rely on loans to finance their education, and Pennsylvania students are saddled with the third-highest student debt burden in the nation. All too often, student debt forces young people to put their dreams aside — in some cases, indefinitely. Moms and dads are trapped, too, trying hard to give their kids a hand.

In nearly every one of the communities I have visited in this campaign, I have heard from someone personally affected by the student loan crisis. There was the young woman in Scranton who, after being the first in her family to go to college, pursued a PhD. Even working full-time while she went to school, she had to take out loans that, as interest has accrued, are now nearing $200,000.

I have met parents and grandparents who, to help their kids reach their goals, mortgaged their own retirement with hefty loans, and students deeply concerned by the prospect of going out into the world with no assurance that they will ever be genuinely able to start their life — unable to get married, or buy a home or a car as they attempt to pay back their education expenses.

This is unacceptable. After the years of hard work needed to earn a degree, students and their families should be celebrated — not held back by crushing debt. That’s why I will fight to put a cap on the rising costs of college and to ensure that the burden of student loans is not insurmountable.

For too long, Washington insiders like Pat Toomey have allowed students to go it alone. Toomey has supported cuts to critical programs like the Pell Grant, which gives nearly 300,000 students in Pennsylvania a leg up, and allowed students and recent grads to struggle with rising costs without the option to refinance their loans. This makes no sense. If interest rates across the board are low, why shouldn’t we make sure that extends to college loans? If you can refinance a loan for a home, why shouldn’t you be able to do the same for an education?

In my life, the chance to go to college opened the doors to my future. That’s why, in the Senate, I will fight to bring down the costs of college and to restore opportunity for the students working hard to make a difference in this world.