Issue Position: Higher Education

Issue Position

College tuition has increased more than 500% since 1985, vastly outpaced inflation and double increases seen in our health care system. Because of this cost increase, college seniors graduated last year with an average of $27,000 in student loan debt and now are having trouble finding a good job to pay off the debt.

That means when two average college graduates get married, they must start their young family under the burden of more than $50,000 of debt! This is a crisis and while it's been caused by several factors, politicians in both federal and state government have played a big role. Rep. Van Winkle is working to stop and reverse the dangerous cycle of tuition and fee increases.

In 2015, Rep. Van Winkle ran a bill to protect Colorado taxpayer money directed to our Colleges and Universities for Colorado students. A new funding model for Higher Education passed prior to Rep. Van Winkle joining the legislature, allows Colorado taxpayer dollars to support out-of-state students, which raises tuition for in-state Colorado kids. While the bill itself didn't pass, Rep. Van Winkle raised enough bipartisan support to fold it's merits into the larger Budget Bill for Higher Education.

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