Elizabeth Warren: $1.2 Trillion Debt Is Crushing Students

By Paula J. Owen, Telegram.com

21 March 14

.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren visited Fitchburg State University Friday morning to discuss with students, faculty and state and local officials the $1.2 trillion in student loan debt that she says is crushing students and putting a strain on the economy.

FSU students listened intently in the Holmes Dining Commons as Ms. Warren talked about ways to bring down the cost of college and ease the student debt burden.

The system is caught in a "one-two punch," she said, with the costs of higher education going up and tough federal lending policies on students.

For the past 30 years, funding for higher education has been reduced, and students and their families are left to pick up the cost, she said.

"Instead of a low-cost alternative to give every kid a shot, the higher-education system is priced out of reach of families," she said.

The cost of an education at a state university nationwide, when adjusted for inflation, is 300 percent higher than it was for students 30 years ago, she said.

There are pending bills in the Senate, she said, to help reduce college costs, but legislators cannot simply reduce the costs going forward without dealing with the student loan debt.

Ms. Warren promised to push to reduce student loan interest rates and refinance options for college students as the cost of higher education continues to climb.

The federal government making billions of dollars — around $66 billion annually — off the backs of college students each year in interest payments on student loans, Ms. Warren said, is fundamentally wrong.

She was the first from her family to go to college, she said, and paid only $50 a semester at a commuter school before attending a public law school where she paid just a few hundred dollars a semester.

"I grew up in an America that was investing in young people," she said. "Where if you worked hard and got into school, the government would help pay for it."

That has shifted, she said, with the government paying, on average, only a third of the costs of higher education.

Legislators need to be more ambitious at the federal level to keep costs low and make sure students can meet their student loan obligations, she said.

"Federal polices are tough on students," she said. "They say, we'll lend you the money, but we're going to make a big profit doing it."

FSU assistant professor Eric R. Boehme asked how it was possible to call universities public institutions when public funding has gone down from 62 percent in 2001 to 36 percent today.

"That means much more burden of the cost of education is put on the student than the state," he said. "Fewer students can afford to come to school or stay in school."

Ms. Warren said legislators need to advocate for more money for higher education. Tax loopholes for the rich need to be stitched up and the money put toward education, she said.

"The United States government should not make billions of dollars off the backs of students and preserve loopholes for billionaires and oil companies so they can make it big," she said.

After the roundtable discussion, FSU film major Jack D. Low Jr., 21, of Pepperell, who is in his senior year, and girlfriend Sarah M. Witherow, 20, a freshman film and theater major from Ayer, waited to talk one-on-one with Ms. Warren.

The couple said they feel the senator is authentic and does a good job representing struggling college students.

"I am fortunate that my parents have supported me," Mr. Low said. He said he attended a private school on scholarships and his parents are paying for his classes at FSU, but many of his friends, including Ms. Witherow, were not that lucky.

"I'm happy with what Sen. Warren is doing, not only to push back corruption on Wall Street, but also with federal loans," he said. "A lot of people are worried because the rates are blatantly climbing. I feel very lucky I didn't have to borrow and feel like an outlier."

Ms. Witherow said she didn't have to take out loans this year, but will next year.

"It is a big worry," she said. "I hope she is able to bring down the interest rates, especially for when my younger siblings have to come to school. I hope it changes before then."

After her stop at FSU, Ms. Warren visited the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester to meet with hospital officials, faculty and students, and visited Xtalic Corp. in Marlboro to tour the company's facilities.