July 9, 1998

Mr. President, There are few pieces of legislation as important to American families as the bill we take up today--the Higher Education Amendments of 1998.

I have been pleased and honored to work with the chairman and the ranking member of the Labor and Human Resources Committee, and with Senator Coats of Indiana to put this bill together over the last year. I appreciate the tremendous effort of Senator Jeffords, Senator Kennedy and Senator Coats on this bill, which is going to move I think rather expeditiously. There will be some amendments, but it is a tribute to the efforts of the membership of this group and their staff that we have reached a point where we have this very, very important piece of legislation that has achieved as much harmony as it has. So I begin these brief remarks by commending them and the staff members who have put this bill together. And, together, we bring to the floor today a strong, bipartisan bill--a bill that American families need and deserve.

Mr. President, America has long been known as the land of promise. We take great pride in that as Americans. Those words are used at every national holidays--`a land of promise.' I think the foundation of that promise has been, during the more than two centuries of our existence as a nation, education. A democracy as complicated, as sophisticated, and as subtle as ours could not succeed without an educated population. Education is also the root of our economic strength. Without an educated population, you cannot remain on the cutting edge of industry and business.

I think any successful national endeavor you talk about, Education is a critical factor in its success. It is the central theme that has created the kind of opportunity and success this Nation has enjoyed for so many years--particularly, I would add, higher education. This is no secret. Parents recognize that their child's success is, in no small measure, dependent on his or her educational achievement. Statistics bear this out. A person with a college degree earns twice as much as one with just a high school education.

But this issue is not only a concern of families. Higher education has also, as I said a moment ago, defined and shaped America's economy in the post-World War II era. Our economy has grown on the strength of knowledge-based, highly skilled industries and workers. This would not have been possible without our unparalleled network of universities and colleges and our Federal commitment to ensuring access to these institutions of higher learning.

Since the GI bill, millions of Americans have been able to attend college because of the assistance of their Federal Government. Today, in fact, 75 percent of all student aid is Federal.

Unfortunately, families increasingly worry that college is slipping beyond their grasp as college costs rise and student debt mounts. Studies suggest that even with the nearly $35 billion of Federal aid available each year, affordability is a significant factor for those at all income levels. For middle-income families, college costs are shaping students' decisions about where to attain their higher education and what type of careers they intend to pursue. For the neediest of students in our country, affordability of education is already affecting the fundamental decision of whether to attend higher education at all.

We cannot discuss the Higher Education Act, which is centrally about ensuring access to higher education, without discussing cost. I firmly believe that the choice of an institution, the choice of a career, and the choice of whether to attend college at all should not be based alone on the issue of cost--and for too many families today, it is.

Let's face it. Families are increasingly unable to cope with the cost increases that we see in higher education. According to a survey conducted by the American Council on Education, the public worries a great deal about the cost of attending college. They believe that college is too expensive, and they think that the cost can be brought down without affecting academic quality.

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