Kilmer Visits University of Puget Sound Classroom, Talks to Students About Debt Graduates Face

Press Release

Representative Derek Kilmer joined a class at the University of Puget Sound (UPS) yesterday to highlight legislation he's working on to help graduates dealing with debt and make it easier to establish a career.

Last year, a Pew Research study found that a third of Americans aged 26-33 have a four year college degree. But the total amount graduates owe in student loans has skyrocketed by 112.5% since 2007. Upon graduation the average person faces $27,689 in debt. This has made it harder for younger Americans to find quality jobs and start their own businesses.

"My folks were school teachers and I could not have gone to college without financial aid," said Kilmer. "Education is the door to opportunity and for a lot of families, including mine, financial aid is the key to that door. We need a commitment to quality, affordable education and I will continue to look at ways to help our students get ahead so after graduation they are ready to join the workforce, start a business, or teach the next generation."

Kilmer visited a course taught by Professor John Woodward, Dean of the School of Education, entitled "American Schools Inside and Out." Along with detailing his work on student debt, Kilmer participated in a conversation with the students about their work in the class.

Kilmer recently cosponsored a bill that would allow borrowers with high interest rates on their existing student loans in both the public and private markets to refinance them at lower interest rates. Under the proposal, borrowers with undergraduate loans could refinance at an interest rate of 3.86 percent, similar to the rates available to new student loan borrowers. If passed, it could benefit more than 450,000 borrowers in Washington state. In March, Kilmer spoke on the House floor about the importance of easing the burden of student loans on graduates.

Kilmer also talked to the UPS class about how this problem impacts the next generation of the nation's teachers. The Department of Education has estimated a need for 430,000 new teachers by 2020. A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that since 2008 nearly one-third of TEACH grants, designed to help those looking to teach in high-need schools, have been converted into costly unsubsidized loans, leaving those participants with more student debt than they had in the first place.

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