U.S. Senate Looks for Solution to High Student Loan Debt

Senators from Wisconsin to Hawaii have started a campaign in Congress to give college affordability the attention they believe it deserves so more young adults can have a shot at a higher education.

It’s the question many student face when going off to college. How am I going to pay for this? For students at Drake University in Des Moines, it’s a big concern.

“I’m currently working so I can help pay for that,” Drake University Freshman Maddie Sell said.

It’s something Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono understands all too well.

“I paid this my own way through undergraduate and graduate school I had debt, it took me 15 years to pay off my law school loans,” Hirono said.

She said student debt is raising concern from too many American families, even starting at an early age.

“Even in fifth grade they’re worrying about how their parents are going to send them to college,” Hirono said.

That’s why she joined the #inthered campaign and signed on to the “Reducing Educational Debt” Act.

In it, she wants to see continued support for Pell grants, which she says half of students who go to college rely upon.

The act also addresses refinancing student loans and would make two years of community college free.

“It used to be that in order to get a good start in life and a good career you needed at least 12 years ofeducation, well in todays high skills economy you need more,” Baldwin said.

Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin said she hopes this campaign peaks the interest of other lawmakers.

“Are we going to have another generation that incurs the same level of debt or are we going to sort of break that with a number of strategies,” she added.

Just like we did in Iowa, these Senators and others will be visiting college campuses around the nation to look for more solutions.