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 Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12) today hosted a roundtable discussion with students and administrators from area colleges and universities on student loans and college affordability. Dingell heard from undergraduates and graduates about the challenges they face financing their educations, and discussed efforts at the federal level to ease the student loan burden and make college more affordable.

“A college education is one of the most valuable investments families can make, but today, millions of graduates are entering the workforce burdened with tens of thousands of dollars of debt,” said Dingell. “Graduates across the country are putting their futures on hold – delaying milestones like buying a home and starting a business – as they struggle to pay off their student loans.”

Skyrocketing tuitions have left nearly 40 million Americans working to repay $1.3 trillion in student loans, including 1.5 million Michigan residents who owe more than $39 billion. Yet current law prevents hardworking, responsible borrowers from refinancing their student loans to today’s low rates, such as those available for home and auto loans. As a result, graduates with outstanding student debt are often stuck with interest rates at 7% or higher.

Dingell is a cosponsor of the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act, which would save students and families thousands of dollars by allowing federal and private student loan borrowers to refinance their loans to the same low rates offered to new borrowers in the 2013-2014 school year. More than 960,000 borrowers in Michigan would benefit from being able to refinance their student loans. 

“You can refinance your home loan, your car loan and your small business loan. But you can’t refinance your federal student loan,” said Dingell. “That’s just plain wrong. Our bill fixes that problem – saving families thousands of dollars on their loans.”

“The University of Michigan is pleased that Congress is reviewing measures aimed at assisting federal and private student-loan borrowers and it is very helpful that Congresswoman Dingell is bringing this important conversation to our campus,” said Margaret Rodriguez, senior associate director for the UM Office of Financial Aid. “The University of Michigan works hard to ensure higher education is accessible and affordable to students from all economic backgrounds."

“We were pleased to join Congresswoman Dingell in discussing opportunities to reduce the heavy burden of loan repayment on students and families,” said Linda Blakey, vice president of student and academic services at Washtenaw Community College. “Even at WCC, where tuition is historically affordable, many students still borrow and would benefit from a lower interest rate during repayment. We need to ensure that we are doing everything we can to relieve some of the financial burden caused by higher interest rates on federal and private loans.”

Dingell was also joined at the roundtable by Curt Gielow, President of Concordia University Ann Arbor; Rebecca DeVooght, State Relations Director at the University of Michigan; Jason Morgan, Director of Government Relations at Washtenaw Community College; Kelly Schneider, Senior Financial Aid Advisor at Eastern Michigan University; Kevin Stange, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; and local students.

“It was great to see the Congresswoman bring together leaders from different universities – public and private – community colleges and four-year institutions, graduate students and undergraduate students, for a conversation on college affordability,” said Bobby Dishell, student body president at the University of Michigan. “It was great to learn from financial aid officers and university officials, and also from my fellow students about the issue of college affordability and to have a conversation not just on the tuition cost but the social cost of attending an institution. It was good to see the Congresswoman so receptive to this and I think there’s a lot of great work we can do together when we involve students in the conversation and work to solve the issue of college affordability.”

“We would all benefit from a simpler process for student loans,” said Davon Shackleford, a student at Washtenaw Community College. “Student debt impacts financial decisions I have to make every day. Money is tight for students, and having a large amount of debt when you graduate makes things even more difficult. Today’s discussion with Congresswoman Dingell was very interesting and I enjoyed learning more about her proposal to help students like me.”

Total student loan debt – which nearly quadrupled between 2003 and 2013 – has now eclipsed credit card debt as the second largest form of consumer debt, behind mortgages. The average student owes nearly $30,000.

"The increasing debt load that students must take on is becoming out of control and is consuming the lives of the youth, oftentimes deterring them from more education," said Eric Penrose, student at Eastern Michigan University. "It was a pleasure to be invited to this discussion, and I appreciate Congresswoman Dingell for coming out and listening to our needs as students and to the universities' financial offices that strive to find a better means to assist students with funding their education. Being from a low income bracket, I appreciate any effort in reducing the burden on students to assure that everyone is able to finance their education."

Congresswoman Dingell is also a cosponsor of the American Opportunity Tax Credit Act of 2015, which helps ease the cost of attending college by providing a tax credit for qualifying secondary education expenses, such as books and computers. The bill also increases the current tax credit from $2,500 to $3,000 per year.