3 Education Issues That Remind Us Why It's Time for New Leadership, Part 1

Statement

Part 1: Student Debt Challenges

Senator Lee Zeldin, Republican and Conservative Party candidate for Congress in New York's First Congressional District, released the first of a three part series this week on three education issues that remind us why it's time for new leadership:

"The student debt crisis is a growing problem in the United States. Estimates show that 40 million Americans have student debt, with the total amount of United States student debt estimated at $1 trillion. In 2013, the average student debt of a graduate was $35,200.

The cost for higher education is one of the fastest-rising costs in America. Since 1980, tuition costs at United States colleges and universities have risen by 757 %. In comparison, food and electricity costs have risen by about 150 % and gasoline prices have risen by more than 400 % over the same period of time.

In 2010, my opponent supported the passage of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which House Democrats attached to the final amendments of Obamacare to help fund the healthcare law. Under this law, the federal government lends directly to students, ending private student loans with federal subsidies. The government takeover of student loans eliminates competition and choice.

In Albany this year, as a member of the Senate Higher Education Committee, I worked closely with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to increase funding for SUNY, CUNY and the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP).

More must be done on a bipartisan level at the federal government to fix this growing crisis and the best way to help American students is by doing more to strengthen our economy and create good paying private sector jobs. Young college graduates are stuck after college with tens of thousands in student debt and are often struggling to find a decent job. They are having difficulty securing needed refinancing to lower interest rates as well as structured loans that can help them afford to get their professional lives off the ground successfully.

While expanding access to colleges, online programs, training schools, work-based learning systems and financial counseling, we must also make bipartisan progress towards addressing affordability challenges as well."

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