Happy Graduation ( You owe $370K )

[Jefferson23]

With college commencement season underway, Bernie was flanked at a news conference on Monday by students and graduates who are deep in debt. At a time when the amount of outstanding college loans has surpassed credit card debt, Bernie is fighting to lower interest rates on student loans like the $370,000 owed by a family doctor at a community health center in Burlington, Vt. He is proposing legislation to let high school juniors and seniors take college courses to cut costs. And, as a member of the Senate education committee, he is working on broad legislation to make U.S. tuition competitive with other countries.

Flanked by Vermont college students and graduates who are deep in debt, Sen. Bernie Sanders told a news conference on Monday that he will introduce legislation to help students earn college credits in high school in order to cut the cost of earning a college diploma. The senator said he supports a separate bill to lower interest rates on student loans. And, as a member of the Senate education committee, he also is working on ways to bring down college costs.

The average four-year college graduate picking up diplomas this spring at commencement ceremonies across Vermont owes $28,000 in student loans, $1,000 more than the national average. As a result, Sanders said, “too many good students in Vermont and throughout the country are deciding against going to college because they fear they will face a lifetime of paying down student loans.”

Joining the senator at a news conference was Jazmin Spear, a Castleton State College junior, who said she will have accumulated $29,800 in loans by the time she graduates. Liz Beatty-Owens said she’ll leave Johnson State College owing $40,000. Christine Mahoney, a family doctor at the Community Health Centers of Burlington, said she is carrying $370,700 in student loans. And Emily Sutton, an assistant professor at Albany College of Pharmacy in Colchester, said she is still is paying off some $300,000 in loans.

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/recent-business/college-costs?utm_source=berniebuzz&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Read+more+featuredlinkurl&utm_campaign=National+Bernie+Buzz+05-13

[frazzled]

1. Re: the family doctor

I thought that if you worked a number of years at a nonprofit in an undeserved area, the government would repay a huge portion of your student debt for medical school. Wouldn't a community health center in Burlington count?

[Jefferson23]

2. That's a good question, but there is no mention of that in the information...I hope so. n/t

[Egnever]

3. college tuitions are ridiculous

But every one of these people agreed to these loans.

[Jefferson23]

4. Indeed, but what alternatives did they have? n/t

[riderinthestorm]

5. K&R. Our best and brightest are being squashed just as they enter the workforce.

If you're smart enough to get in, it should be free