[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 68 (Friday, May 26, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S5344]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. CLINTON (for herself and Ms. Mikulski):
  S. 3255. A bill to provide student borrowers with basic rights, 
including the right to timely information about their loans and the 
right to make fair and reasonable loan payments, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President. I rise today to introduce legislation to 
protect the rights of student borrowers trying to repay their loans. 
Students are borrowing now more than ever to pay for higher education. 
Need-based grant aid has stagnated while college costs have grown. The 
result is more students borrowing and higher levels of borrowing. In 
1993, less than one-half of students graduating from 4-year colleges 
and universities had student loans. Now two-thirds do.
  Unlike other debt, you take out student loans to invest in yourself. 
For most people, that is a wise investment. In the long run student 
loans help people earn more money and have more choices in their 
careers. Student borrowers must also take their responsibilities 
seriously, so future generations of students can also benefit from the 
chance to borrow money--so they do not have to burden their families.
  But today it is harder to pay back loans than when I left school or 
when most of the Members of this Chamber did. The average debt burden 
for college graduates has increased 58 percent over the past decade, 
after accounting for inflation. And too many borrowers are overly 
burdened as they repay student loans. When I travel in New York, I meet 
young people all the time who say to me, ``You know, Senator, I'd like 
to go to nursing school or I'd like to be a teacher or I'd like to go 
into law enforcement, but I've got so much debt that I can't afford to 
do that.'' We need to make sure that student loans do not stand in 
people's way and prevent them from following their dreams.
  The burden of student loan debt can put people in economic handcuffs, 
forcing them out of important but low-paying professions or forcing 
them to delay the purchase of a home. Today 54 percent of former 
students wish they had borrowed less for college, up from 31 percent in 
1991. Student loan debt may even prevent borrowers from pursuing a 
higher degree. According to the Nellie Mae Corporation, 40 percent of 
college graduates who do not go to graduate school blame student loan 
debt. Most disturbingly, the prospect that student loans will be 
burdensome may prevent successful high school students from going to 
college. Twenty percent of low-income high school graduates who are 
qualified for college do not go to college.
  The Student Borrower Bill of Rights will make it easier for students 
to repay and give them rights that are enforceable. The bill will give 
students the right to shop for loans in a free marketplace. It will 
give students access to better information about their loans. The bill 
will give student borrowers the right to make fair, monthly payments 
that do not exceed a percentage of their incomes and fair interest 
rates and fees. The bill would also give students the right to borrow 
without exploitation.
  We need this bill now to help students struggling to go to college. 
For the average family it now takes more income to pay for a child to 
go to college than it did, as a percentage, 25 years ago.
  So we need to do everything we can to ensure all students can afford 
college. It is in their best interest and it is in the Nation's best 
interest.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the Student Borrower 
Bill of Rights.
                                 ______