Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said on Thursday that college is more affordable than most students think and data indicates most college graduates aren’t saddled with unmanageable debt.
Alexander, the ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, delivered his remarks during a committee hearing on reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.
“I don’t think I’ve ever run into anybody who said it’s pretty easy to pay for college,” Alexander said. “My experience is probably like everybody else’s: I had no money, so I had two scholarships and five jobs to try to make my way through. But college is more affordable than most students think.”
Approximately 40 percent of college students attend community colleges where average tuition is less than $3,300, Alexander said, and those students receive an average of $4,800 in grants and scholarships. Students of four-year public universities, meanwhile, pay approximately $8,900 for in-state tuition and fees while receiving an average of $5,800 in grants and scholarships.
“It’s important for students to know as they think about going to college that it can be affordable and most students don’t have to borrow too much money if they borrow wisely,” Alexander said.
In 2012, 40 percent of borrowers had less than $10,000 in student loan debt, 70 percent of borrowers had less than $25,000 in debt and fewer than four percent of borrowers had more than $100,000 in debt, according to the New York Federal Reserve.
To add context to student loan landscape, Alexander said, the average college graduate earns $1 million more than those without college degrees over a lifetime.
“An inspector general’s report from the U.S. Department of Education warns that some students borrow excessively for personal expenses not related to their education,” Alexander said. “That is a growing phenomenon. So, over borrowing may be partly the result of government policy, and I think in future hearings we should talk about various ways that have been suggested to limit the over borrowing that saddles some students with too much debt, such as the current practice of allowing students who are enrolled part-time to take out as much in federal loans as a full-time student, or perhaps we should provide colleges with the authority to set some borrowing limits. These are things we will have to discuss.”