[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 8630-8631]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    RISING COST OF HIGHER EDUCATION

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I rise to comment as well on another 
matter closer to home.
  It is graduation season. Over the next several weeks, in cities and 
towns in South Dakota and across America, hundreds of thousands of 
young people will graduate from high school.
  Parents will tell their graduating sons and daughters, ``I'm proud of 
you.''
  Unfortunately, many parents will also have to tell their children, 
``I'm sorry.''
  ``I'm sorry that we can't afford to send you to college.''
  The novelist James Michener grew up dirt poor in Pennsylvania, but he 
got a good education.
  He once told an interviewer, ``I went to nine different universities 
and never paid a nickel of my own money. My wife got many scholarships. 
We are children of the United States.''
  James Michener was able to graduate from college because America 
invested in him. In his case, it was the GI bill that opened the doors 
of higher education.
  In my own case, it was the Air Force ROTC that opened those doors.
  I was the first person in my family ever to go to college. I worked 
to pay part of my tuition, and my parents helped; my mother went back 
to work when I was in high school just to help pay for my college 
education.
  Even with all of us pitching in, I still could not have paid for 
college without help from the United States Government.
  I am deeply mindful of, and grateful for, the investment America made 
in me. It is partly because of my own background that I am troubled 
today to see many families in America priced out--or on the verge of 
being priced out--of the college market.
  Since President Bush took office, the average tuition at a 4-year 
public college has increased 28 percent.
  This year, tuition increased at State universities in all 50 States. 
In some States, tuition shot up as much as 40 percent. And more 
increases are slated for next year.
  The University of Kentucky is raising tuition for freshmen and 
sophomores by $618 next year. That is a 14-percent increase--on top of 
this year's 14-percent increase.
  The University of Missouri will see a 7.5-percent tuition increase 
next year--on top of this year's increase of 20 percent.
  In Texas, the University of Houston recently raised tuition by 25 
percent. The University of Texas at Austin plans a 26-percent increase. 
And Texas A&M University will charge students 21 percent more.
  In Washington State, community college tuition is going up 7 percent, 
bringing the total increase over the past 5 years to more than 35 
percent.
  In California, where budget cuts and tuition increases this year shut 
an estimated 175,000 students out of community colleges, State 
lawmakers are now considering a 44-percent increase in community 
college fees; that would be on top of last year's 64-percent increase.
  They are also looking at a 10-percent tuition increase for University 
of California students and a 9-percent budget cut for the Cal State 
system.
  At the same time tuition is increasing dramatically, the value of the 
Pell Grant, America's main college tuition assistance program, is 
declining.
  In 1979, the maximum Pell Grant covered 77 percent of the tuition at 
a 4-year public college or university. By 2001, that percentage had 
dropped to just 42 percent.
  Today, the average college student needs to come up with $3,800 per 
year out-of-pocket--that's after grants and loans.
  Most college students today work. In fact, more than three-quarters 
of all full-time students at public colleges and universities work, and 
they work an average of 22 hours per week. Yet student debt has doubled 
over the last decade.
  Students graduating from college this month will leave school with 
$17,000-worth of student loan debt; that's for undergraduate students. 
Professional and graduate students often graduate with $100,000--or 
more--in student loan debt. And they are luckier than some.
  The rise in college costs is outpacing the ability of many low-income 
families to pay for college. At 4-year public colleges, tuition costs 
for the lowest 20 percent of wage earners rose from 12 percent of 
family income in 1980 to 25 percent of family income in 2002.
  At 4-year private colleges, tuition costs for low-wage earners rose 
from 58 percent of family income in 1980 to 117 percent of family 
income in 2002.
  And according to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher 
Education, in the fall of 2003, at least 250,000 prospective college 
students were priced out of the college market. They had the grades to 
go to college; they just couldn't afford the tuition.
  When I graduated from high school, a college education was a big 
advantage. Today, it is rapidly becoming a necessity. The fastest-
growing and best-paying jobs today require at least some college.
  Over the course of his or her career, a person with a 2-year college 
degree will earn an average of $400,000 more than a high school 
graduate. Someone with a 4-year degree will earn nearly $1 million 
more.
  But it is not just individuals who suffer when middle- and lower-
income Americans are priced out of college. Our entire Nation suffers. 
Broad access to higher education is critical to America's economic 
future, our national security, our intellectual and cultural life, and 
our democracy.
  There was a story on the front page of the New York Times on Monday 
that ought to alarm us all. The headline read: ``U.S. is Losing Its 
Dominance in the Sciences.''
  It said:

       The United States has started to lose its worldwide 
     dominance in critical areas of science and innovation, 
     according to federal and private experts who point to strong 
     evidence like prizes awarded to Americans and the number of 
     papers in major professional journals. . . .
       Foreign advances in basic science now often rival or even 
     exceed America's. . . .

  It quoted John Jankowski, a senior analyst at the National Science 
Foundation, saying:

       The rest of the world is catching up. Science excellence is 
     no longer the domain of just the U.S.

  The article cited three statistics to support that claim:
  First, in international competition involving industrial patents, the 
percentage won by Americans ``has fallen steadily over the decades and 
now stands at 52 percent.''
  Second, the percentage of research papers by Americans published in 
top physics journals has declined from 61 percent in 1983 to just 29 
percent this year.
  Finally, the share of Nobel Prizes for science won by Americans has 
fallen to 51 percent. These are prizes America dominated heavily from 
the 1960s well into the 1990s.
  Unless we reverse this decline and regain America's scientific and 
technological edge, our children will grow up in a less productive, 
less prosperous America.
  If we are going to meet the challenges of the future, we need the 
best thinking and best efforts of every American. Yet the doors to 
college are narrowing.
  What has the administration's response to this problem been?
  Deafening silence.

[[Page 8631]]

  The Higher Education Act is up for reauthorization. Yet this 
administration has put forward no real plan to make college more 
affordable.
  The Bush administration has stood by while States have slashed their 
education budgets and raised college tuition to close State budget 
shortfalls.
  The President's oversized tax cuts have eaten up Federal resources 
that we could otherwise invest in higher education, and in basic 
research and investment.
  Despite his repeated promises to increase the value of the average 
Pell Grant, the President's proposed budget for next year freezes the 
Pell Grant for the third year in a row.
  The President's budget also cuts the Perkins Loan program--the 
Federal work-study program that has helped tens of millions of middle- 
and lower-income students work their way through college.
  I hope we can come up with a better answer, and many of us have 
proposed one.
  We believe the Government can, and must, create an opportunity 
society, where every college-ready student or worker who needs to 
update his or her skills has the chance to go to college, or get 
additional training, without having to take on back-breaking debt to do 
it.
  We want to increase the maximum Pell Grant from $4,050 to $5,100, to 
double the HOPE Scholarship tax credit from $1,500 per student to 
$3,000 per student, and to make the education tax credits refundable.
  We also support efforts to help more African American, Hispanic, 
Native American, and other minority students attend college, because 
diversity strengthens our democracy and our economy.
  James Michener fought in World War II. He helped win perhaps the 
greatest battle of the last century.
  Americans in the 21st century will fight different battles. But the 
stakes are just as high.
  We need to make sure that every son and daughter of America has the 
chance to go to college if he or she can do the work. It is not just a 
matter of individual self-interest. In a real sense, it is a matter of 
our national survival.

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