Higher Education Reform

Floor Speech

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Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Madam Speaker, I believe everyone in this Chamber will agree with me that when we invest in our students and in our schools, we invest in the future success of this Nation.

Yet, as I hear from so many of my students back home, the rising costs make affording college harder and harder for them and their families. On average, the class of 2016 will graduate with about $37,000 in student debt, up about 6 percent from last year. The number of students graduating from college with debt is about 70 percent of them.

For this reason, comprehensive higher education reform should be at the forefront of our legislative agenda here in Congress. Programs such as the Pell grant and the Perkins Loan Program should be increased so that we can increase the availability of the American Dream.

Next week I plan to reintroduce the Middle Class CHANCE Act, which will aid our students in affording college by increasing the strength of the Pell Grant.

It is time for this Congress to address the increasing costs of college and make college more affordable for future generations and working families.

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