[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 77 (Thursday, May 30, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E964-E965]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  STATEMENT BY JENNIFER CARLSON, JOHN DRISCOLL, BEN LECLAIR, JENNIFER 
      DESJARDIN, AND HEATHER WILES REGARDING FINANCIAL AID REFORM

                                 ______


                          HON. BERNARD SANDERS

                               of vermont

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 30, 1996

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, for the benefit of my colleagues I would 
like to have printed in the Record this statement by five Champlain 
Valley Union High School students, who were speaking at my recent town 
meeting on issues facing young people:

       John: We'd like to first have all the people out in the 
     audience who are going to attend college to stand up right 
     now. All right. Whoever can pay off college by themselves, 
     without any assistance from the government, or the college, 
     please keep standing. Anyone who requires any kind of 
     financial aid, please sit down. Okay, I see one person out in 
     the audience that can afford college.
       Okay, that's what's happening around the country right now, 
     is that people of our generation cannot afford college. The 
     cost of many colleges are approaching $30,000. People just 
     can't afford that.
       I know in my personal experience, I'm going to a college 
     that costs $28,000; my mom works full-time as a teacher, and 
     she only makes $26,000. Without financial aid of any sort, 
     going to my college of choice would be impossible. And the 
     U.S. is unique in this fact, in that almost all of its young 
     and brightest citizens end up being in debt, be it $30,000 or 
     even $100,000. This really isn't right.
       Ben: And in today's society, having a college education is 
     a must. Anyone that expects to succeed needs to have a 
     college education. You've heard the facts already, that the 
     males that go to college are 50% higher than high school 
     graduates, and without the funding of student aid and good 
     financial packages from colleges, it's impossible for our 
     generation--for us, for any of us--to really make any 
     contribution to our nation. And we're in strong support of 
     raising student aid to normal people, not just the people 
     that really need it, in the lower class, but in the middle 
     class, where you won't qualify for the financial aid that you 
     need. But yet, you cant' afford to pay it yourself. John's 
     got a graph that talks about how income has risen, and the 
     cost of college has risen also.
       (John got up with graph) As you can see, the bar on top is 
     the Median* Household Income for families in U.S. (1980-
     2000;) and at the bottom is the cost of 4-year colleges 
     across the board. (*taken from U.S. Census Bureau) And the 
     gap . . . ends up being about $10,000; and $10,000 is not 
     enough for a family, the moderate American family, to live 
     on. You also have to count taxes in that, and taxes slash the 
     American family income by about \1/3\. This means that the 
     families have little or no income after paying for college.
       Ben: And one of our resolutions is that as a student, you 
     get a loan from the government, and in order to pay back the 
     loan that the government gives, is by doing work for the 
     government itself, in the field that they study. So, for 
     instance, I want to study Journalism in college. Well, the 
     government would give me a certain amount that would help pay 
     for college that would lessen the burden on myself for paying 
     it. A board would decide how long a person would have to 
     work, say it would be 4 years for the government, or 
     whatever, in that special range, working with public 
     relations and communications, and so on and so forth. We 
     believe that could work, and it very well can work. Also, we 
     just read in the Globe about how President Clinton is 
     (signal) working on doing . . . for every student in top 5% 
     in the high school graduating gets a $1,000 merit 
     scholarship. That's good, but it's not enough. Each student, 
     by need, has to have the necessity to make this country 
     better, and without a proper education, it's not going to get 
     any better.
       John: One of the best things, in addition to loans, is 
     federal financial aid, is to make all college costs 
     deductible from your taxable income, so that--the family will 
     have more disposable income, and can write-off more income, 
     so they pay less taxes while sending their kids to school. 
     Hopefully this will encourage more people to go to school. 
     The government will get the money back in the long run, so 
     it's not like it's hurting the budget that much.
       Congressman Sanders: Okay. Thank you for your testimony. 
     Let me ask you a couple of questions. Given the problems that 
     you've articulated, what is your understanding as to what 
     Congress is doing right now to address those problems?
       Answer: Well the Republican-controlled majority in Congress 
     has not been very forgiving of . . . the cost of college; 
     they believe

[[Page E965]]

     that balancing the budget is more important than keeping our 
     young people afloat, and going to college. They've been 
     really selfish in that.
       Congressman Sanders: Let me ask you another question. We 
     have heard from a number of the panelists today a great 
     concern, and it was interesting to see so many people stand 
     up, and say, ``Yes, we are going to need help from the 
     government or from some other source in order to go to 
     college.'' Given that reality, is it your judgment that the 
     students themselves have been effective politically in 
     fighting for more federal aid to education. Have they done as 
     good job in making their concerns known to their elected 
     officials?
       Answer: I think a lot of them are not really at an age to 
     make an impact, because of their age, they're not old enough 
     to vote, and really vote for the candidates that will help 
     raise the financial aid. President Clinton is trying the best 
     he can, but with the Congress being so closed-minded in some 
     respects, we don't really have a say.

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