    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [September 11, 1995]
    [Pages 1341-1346]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the Community in Carbondale
    September 11, 1995

        Thank you, Jason. Thank you, Ted Sanders. I want to thank Senator
    Paul Simon and Senator Carol Moseley-Braun for being here and
    Representatives Jerry Costello, Glenn Poshard, and Dick Durbin, the SIU
    Carbondale president, John Guyon, and I want to welcome all of the
    colleges and universities that are connected to us by satellite all
    around the country. Mayor

    [[Page 1342]]

    Dillard, I thank you for being here, and I want to compliment the Saluki
    Marching Band and the pep band. Thank you for your music. Great job. I
    know that we have a lot of schoolchildren here, but I've got an
    especially large number of invitations from one middle school that
    marched here as a group, the Lincoln Middle School. There they are over
    there. Thank you very much. [Applause] I also want to thank all the
    national service AmeriCorps members who are here and who are working in
    southern Illinois.
        Ladies and gentlemen, I am glad to be back here at SIU, a place
    which has a very warm place in my heart. I spoke here in 1991 just
    before I declared as a candidate for President of the United States. It
    was a memorable evening. I've been back here since then. This is the
    first time I've been as President, and I am very, very glad to be back
    here. I've had a wonderful day, and I thank you for making me feel so
    welcome.
        I came here today to talk to you about the future of education in
    America, the role of the student aid programs in that future, and the
    decisions that will be made about the national budget in the next 60 to
    90 days that will affect your future and the future of all Americans.
        One hundred and thirty-seven years ago this week in Jonesboro, just
    down the road here about 20 miles, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas
    held one of their famous debates. According to a newspaper report at the
    time, interest in the event was not what it should have been. When the
    candidates arrived in town, they were met, and I quote, ``by two yoke of
    steers and a Stephen Douglas banner hanging bottom-upwards.'' [Laughter]
    Well, I didn't see any cattle on my way in, and all of the banners I've
    seen today are rightside-up, and there seems to be a good deal of
    interest. So I thank you for that, and I'm glad to see you.
        It's appropriate that we're here talking about the student loan
    issue because, as I'm sure all of you know, about halfway between here
    and Jonesboro is Senator Paul Simon's hometown of Makanda. Senator Simon
    is retiring from the Senate this year, but I want everybody in this
    audience to know that more than anyone else in the United States
    Congress, he was instrumental in supporting our efforts to pass the
    direct loan program in 1993, and no one has done more to make the dream
    of a college education a reality for all American students than Paul
    Simon of Illinois.
        The Lincoln-Douglas debates were historic because they occurred at
    an historic time over an historic issue. The issue then was slavery and
    whether our country would remain united or be divided, and everyone knew
    the whole future of the country depended on how it was resolved.
        Today at the dawn of a new century, we are in the midst of another
    period of historic change. The issue today is the end of the cold war
    and traditional industrial society and the growth of the global economy,
    the information and technology age and whether we can preserve the
    American dream for all Americans in this new world. And the whole future
    of the country depends upon how we answer that great issue, just as it
    did in 1858.
        How do we keep the American dream alive in a world where jobs and
    capital, technology and ideas can travel across borders as fast as the
    satellite signal that right now is beaming this speech to colleges and
    universities all around this country? How do we make sure in this age of
    information where what you can learn determines what you can earn--how
    can we make sure that there's really opportunity for all people in this
    country without regard to where they live or what their racial or
    economic background is?
        How can we make sure that your country gives you the chance to make
    the most of your own life, a gift that was given to me and most other
    people my age that helped us to make the most of our own lives?
        This is a period of intense change, with a lot of wonderful things
    going on. I honestly believe that the young people in this audience will
    grow up into an America that will have its best days. I think the future
    is still going to be better than the past but if, only if, we meet the
    challenges of this time.
        Let's face it, folks, these changes that are going on are awfully
    good for people who have an education, people who can be in the
    forefront of the change. They're pretty tough on millions and millions
    and millions of hard-working families that are being discarded by big
    companies as they downsize, forgotten by economic units for which they
    worked for 10, 20, sometimes 30 years; people who don't have a very good
    education and can no longer get the kind of jobs they used to or if they
    get a job never,

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    ever, ever seem to get a raise; not so good for the million Americans
    who are working every year who lose their health insurance. Why? Because
    all these changes are uprooting people, uprooting companies, uprooting
    ties that used to bind. We know, we know, that unless we can better
    educate our people, too many of them will be left behind in the global
    economy of the 21st century. We know today that for 20 years most
    Americans earning hourly wages have been working harder and harder for
    the same or lower wages--for 20 years. And we know that if we want to
    preserve the American dream for all of you, we have got to turn that
    around. And we know how to do it.
        At the end of World War II when the GI's came home 50 years ago, the
    GI bill gave people who fought in the war a chance to go to college and
    the chance to buy their own home. And it made us the strongest economic
    power in the world by educating our people. In the 1950's, when we got
    into a race with the then-Soviet Union into space, national defense
    education loans and other investments in higher education gave a whole
    new generation of Americans a chance to go to college and broaden their
    horizons. And it made a real difference.
        I was the first person in my family to go to college. I had
    scholarships and loans, a job in college, and six jobs in law school. I
    paid all my loans back, but if it hadn't been for those loans, I might
    never have been given the opportunities that brought me to the point
    where I am today. And I am grateful to the people in my country who gave
    me that chance.
        Now when I became President, my goal was to get this economy ready
    for the 21st century and to open opportunity for you, to create more
    jobs and to set the conditions which will allow us to raise incomes and
    raise the stability of American families. And in 1993, we passed an
    economic program that reduced the deficit from $290 billion a year to
    $160 billion, that cut taxes on the lowest income of our working people
    and made 90 percent of our small businesses eligible for lower taxes,
    and that invested more money in education, research and development, and
    the technologies of the future to create more high-wage jobs.
        And in 2\1/2\ years, we've got 7 million more jobs, 2\1/2\ million
    more homeowners, nearly 2 million more small businesses. But average
    incomes have still not gone up. You cannot turn around 20 years of
    trends in 2 years. But I am telling you, folks, there is no way to do it
    unless we continue to increase the number of Americans of all ages who
    are going on to colleges, from the community colleges to the 4-year
    colleges to the graduate schools of America.
        Listen to this: In 1980, a worker with a college education earned 36
    percent more than a worker with only a high school degree--1980. Today,
    15 years later, that 36 percent gap has grown to 74 percent. The
    difference in earnings between high school graduates and college
    graduates has more than doubled in only 15 years. Every year of higher
    education today increases earnings by 6 to 12 percent and, in many
    cases, guarantees the right to get a job in the first place, something
    which is increasingly rare for people who don't have a good education.
        The unmistakable faultline in America over who makes it and who
    doesn't today, more than ever before, is education. So as we go back to
    school and the Congress goes back to work, the question is, will your
    country continue to help those who want to help themselves? Will your
    country do what it ought to do now, which is what it did for me when I
    was your age? Will your country meet the challenges of the 21st century,
    or will we cut off our nose to spite our face by cutting back on
    educational aid at the time when we need to invest more in it?
        Let me be clear on this. In this great debate to balance the budget,
    I am on the side of balancing the budget. Our country has no business
    running a permanent deficit. We never had a permanent deficit before
    1981. We quadrupled the debt of the country in the 12 years before I
    became President. We have taken the deficit down from $290 billion a
    year down to $160 billion a year in only 3 years. It is important that
    we continue to work to balance the budget.
        It is important because if we can get a balanced budget, we will
    spend less of your taxes on debt and we can spend more of it on
    education, the environment, and the elderly. It is important because, if
    we have less debt, people in private business will be able to borrow
    money at lower interest rates to create more jobs. It's important to
    balance the budget. But you want to do it to strengthen the economy and
    strengthen the incomes of the American people. Therefore, I say we
    should not balance the budget

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    by cutting education, because we do not have to cut education to balance
    the budget.
        We have worked hard in the last 2\1/2\ years to expand scholarships
    like Pell grants for deserving students, and we have worked very, very
    hard on the direct loan initiative. I see the students from Indiana
    University out here holding up their sign. This year I learned at this
    campus you went to the direct loan program and 11,000 students got
    direct college loans. And they didn't have to spend so many hours
    filling out forms or a day waiting in line for the loan at the bursar's
    office this year because the program works.
        The direct loan program gets rid of redtape, bypasses banks and
    middlemen, sends the student loan directly to the school where the
    student gets it in a hurry. I talked to a student just a few moments ago
    who told me that the difference in this year and last year was a
    difference in 4 months and 1 week in getting the student loan. This
    program is better for the students, better for the schools, and believe
    it or not, it costs the taxpayers less money. It has been a good
    investment for America, and I thank, especially, Paul Simon and all
    these other Members of Congress for supporting the direct loan program.
        For many of you, perhaps the most important feature of the direct
    loan program is that you can now pay back your loans as a percentage of
    the income of the job you have when you leave college. This is very
    important because a lot of people go to school to get jobs that will not
    make them wealthy but that will be very important for society. They want
    to be teachers or nurses or social workers or do something else that's
    profoundly important to our country. And they borrow money that is so
    great that if they had to make the loan payment back on traditional
    terms, they couldn't do it. But if they can make the loan payment back
    as a percentage of their income, then there will never be a disincentive
    to go to school. There will never be a disincentive to staying in
    school. No one will ever have to drop out of school just because they
    think their loans are getting too big. We should keep the direct loan
    program and keep the scholarship programs going.
        I also favor retaining the policy that does not charge students for
    interest on their loans while they're in school and gives a 6-month
    grace period after school before you begin making those repayments. You
    have to have a job before you can repay the loans.
        But make no mistake: With the opportunity of the loan comes the
    responsibility to repay it. I was appalled when I became President and I
    realized the size of the college loans default. I was absolutely
    appalled that there were that many people that would take money from
    their Government for a college education and not repay it. And I am
    proud to say we have cut the loan default rate in half in our
    administration, and we're going to cut it some more.
        I just want to mention a couple of other things. One of my proudest
    moments as President was having the opportunity to sign the bill that
    created AmeriCorps, our national service initiative. AmeriCorps is
    giving thousands and thousands of young people the chance to earn and
    save up money for college while serving their communities.
        In Carbondale, we have AmeriCorps members working in the local
    elementary schools, 20,000 this year, up to 50,000 next year could be
    serving their country if the Congress will continue to fund the
    AmeriCorps program. It is a great investment, and it's making America
    stronger.
        There are two other proposals that I have made that I hope this
    coming Congress will adopt. Since there will be a tax cut, the question
    is: What are we going to cut taxes for, and who will get it? I favor as
    my number one priority giving a tax deduction to hard-working American
    families for the cost of education after high school, for their children
    or for themselves.
        The second proposal that I have asked the Congress to adopt is one
    which would basically reflect the new reality of unemployment in our
    country. Thirty years ago when a person went on unemployment, the
    chances were 8 in 10 that person would be called back to the same job,
    that unemployment was a matter of the business cycle, and the
    unemployment check, therefore, just tided people over until they were
    called back to the same job.
        Today, just 30 years later, the chances are when you're laid off, 8
    in 10, that you won't be called back to the old job and you've got to
    find a new one. Therefore, I have recommended that the Congress
    consolidate about 70 separate training programs in the Government and
    just create a fund that will give a voucher to an unemployed American
    for $2,600 a year for up to 2 years to take to the nearest community
    college or other community edu-

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    cation institution to get the training that he or she needs to get back
    in the work force and on the road to progress.
        Under all these reforms I've just mentioned, if we stick with them
    by the year 2002, as many as 20 million more Americans will be able to
    get less expensive and more flexible college loans. We will be able to
    award over 3 million more Pell grant scholarships. And if we maintain
    our commitment, we're on target to increase the number of Americans who
    are going to college by over one million by the end of this decade, and
    we need it, all of us need it, for the strength of the United States.
    That means better jobs, higher incomes, a stronger America.
        All this progress is now threatened by the budget debate now going
    on in Congress. The congressional majority proposes to balance the
    budget a little faster than I do and to give a tax cut much larger than
    the one I propose. Much of it goes to people who are already doing very
    well and don't really need the money.
        To do this, they have been willing to cut education and training by
    $36 billion below the present budget, which is $76 billion less than I
    propose to spend while we balance the budget, too. They've proposed to
    get rid of AmeriCorps. They've proposed to get rid of the direct lending
    program and go back to the old system, which was more cumbersome, which
    will cost the students more money, which will lead to fewer people
    taking advantage of the loan program, which will mean more headaches to
    the colleges and universities, but the banks will make their money back.
    That's all that will happen.
        They propose to make changes in the interest payments on college
    loans so that the cost of college loans could be raised by as much as
    $3,000 for undergraduates and over $9,000 for graduate students. I'm not
    even talking now about the risks to the education programs that help
    kids get ready for college. Under these proposals, there will be 50,000
    fewer children in the Head Start program. All the public schools in our
    country that are participating in our Goals 2000 program will lose their
    money. The safe and drug-free schools program will be denied to millions
    and millions of American children.
        Two million American children would face roadblocks on the road to
    college between now and the end of this decade, the beginning of the
    next century, if the proposals of the Republican Congress become the law
    of the land. That is penny-wise and pound-foolish. We shouldn't cut
    education to balance the budget. We don't have to do it, and we
    shouldn't do it.
        Folks, before I came out here, I spent a fascinating hour or so
    talking to 11 students from the various States that are represented
    here, from Indiana and Kentucky and Tennessee. And I met some people
    from Missouri here earlier, as well as from Illinois, students, people
    who are starting their own lives. They're behind me today. Every one of
    them could not have pursued his or her education without the benefit of
    student financial aid.
        I'd like to ask the people who were with me before I came out here
    to stand up and be recognized. Would you all stand up? [Applause] They
    range in age from 21 to 51. One is a community college student. One is
    in graduate school. They go to public and private universities. They
    have different life stories. One has worked her way off welfare and into
    a position in college leadership. One was an Upward Bound student who is
    going to be very upward bound, who will become a doctor. All these
    people are America. They are what this is all about, not the organized
    forces that lobby in Washington. These 11 people--I am doing my best to
    represent them and their future in your Capital. That is what this is
    all about, your future.
        I only wish that every American, every American, could have heard
    these 11 people tell their stories, talk about the loan programs, the
    scholarship programs; talk about how our direct loan program works; talk
    about what it means to have hope and a new life and to be working like
    crazy to make that life; understand that we're not talking about welfare
    here; we're not talking about giving people something they don't need;
    we're not talking about giving anybody something for nothing. We're
    talking about helping people to make the most of their own lives.
        And if you don't believe that it will hurt America to walk away from
    student financial aid, let me just ask you to consider this: In the last
    4 years, in the State of California, the State that was hit hardest by
    the recession because they lost so many defense-related jobs, higher
    education was cut by 19 percent, and over a 2-year period, enrollment
    dropped by over 10 percent. We need to be increasing enrollment in this
    country, not decreasing it. We need more people in all of these
    community colleges and colleges and universities and all

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    these programs that are critical to our future, not fewer people.
        The American dream depends upon our ability to not only create new
    jobs but to raise wages and enable our people to compete and win in the
    global economy of the 21st century. I have been in factory after factory
    after factory since I've been President. We are now the most productive
    economy in the world. It is wrong for our economy to be growing and the
    American people's incomes to be stuck. And education is the way out. I
    am determined to see that you get it.
        Let me just say this in closing. Education in my lifetime has never
    been a partisan issue. When I asked the Congress to create the national
    service program, Democrats and Republicans supported it. When I asked
    the Congress to expand Head Start, Democrats and Republicans supported
    it. When I asked the Congress to invest in all of these other
    educational programs, just 2 years ago, Democrats and Republicans
    supported it. Never before has this been a partisan issue.
        Do not be fooled by the smokescreen of balancing the budget. We are
    all for balancing the budget. You do not have to balance the budget by
    cutting college aid. You do not have to balance the budget by
    shortcutting the future of America. We can do better than that. Help me.
    Stand up. Write your Members of Congress. Tell them to balance the
    budget and increase investment in education and America's future.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:58 a.m. on the Pulliam Hall lawn. In his
    remarks, he referred to Jason Ervin, student, and Ted Sanders,
    chancellor, Southern Illinois University; and Mayor Neill Dillard of
    Carbondale.