I’m proud that I was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, home to the Kalamazoo Promise program, which ensures tuition-free college within Michigan for graduates of Kalamazoo public high schools.  The Kalamazoo Promise inspired the national College Promise program that seeks to make community colleges tuition-free nationwide.

As a Trustee at Mt. San Antonio College, I have been a proponent of College Promise, and I will continue to support this initiative in Congress.  As traditional four year universities continue to struggle with escalating demand and increased tuition rates, community colleges will become increasingly necessary to grant students and mid-career workers the opportunity to advance their skillsets and obtain degrees.

Student loan debt is one of the biggest crises faced by our country as the cost of going to college continues to skyrocket. It’s ridiculous that the federal government continues to raise interest rates for economically struggling students while the big banks on Wall Street pay almost nothing to borrow money from the Fed. We need to lower student loan interest rates and allow refinancing of student loan debt to alleviate the student loan crisis and provide relief to millions of Americans.