Last month, I traveled around our state — from Belton to Cape Girardeau to Nixa, and places in between — meeting with hundreds of Missourians to discuss the crisis of ballooning college costs and student debt in our country.
I heard from kids from single-parent households struggling to meet financial reporting requirements, from parents afraid of the financial hurdles that come with college and from families trying to contribute to tuition while still paying off their own student debt. And I heard from educators and administrators — in rural and urban schools alike — frustrated at having their hands tied by cumbersome bureaucracies.
Many of these conversations came back to the same thing: finding innovative, effective ways to make college more affordable and accessible, while reducing the mountains of debt students face that strangle their economic opportunities.
The average debt for a Missouri graduate of a four-year institution is more than $25,000. And nearly 60 percent of Missouri graduates are in debt. That amounts to more than 900,000 borrowers with outstanding federal student loans owing a total of more than $24 billion.
This enormous debt burden on our students can put college wholly out of reach for kids from families that can’t afford it. For those who do graduate with debt, the financial burden will almost certainly have an impact on their career and other economic choices for decades to come.
But it’s more than just students’ personal financial futures that are hindered by the massive cost of a college education, and it should demand attention from both sides of the aisle. It’s a problem that’s fundamentally about Missouri and our long-term economic strength. Every dollar our graduates pay toward student loan debt is a dollar that’s not invested in buying a home or starting a business.
Fortunately, I heard valuable, innovative feedback from the folks I met last month that’ll help me drill down and turn their common-sense ideas into action as I get back to work in the Senate to tackle this problem.
Some of those plans include creating refinancing options for graduates with student loan debt. Anyone can walk into a bank and refinance their mortgage, but they currently can’t do the same with student loans. We’ve got to work toward higher and faster graduation rates and support options for high school students who want to dual enroll and get a head start. A significant portion of debt comes from students who don’t graduate or who take more than five years to do so.
I’ll be diving into boosts for Pell Grants, aiming to index them to inflation and making them available for more of the year to make sure students are able to graduate on time. And I’m focused on simplifying the Free Application for Federal Student Aid so it’s easier for families to navigate. I was surprised to learn that high school students are required to take a personal finance course, yet that course doesn’t teach loan literacy and debt calculations. And when students get to college, there’s no way to require that they figure out their projected loan debt.
We’ve got to make improvements to financial literacy programs to ensure students and parents are getting good advice and information, as well as the importance of transparency and accountability for institutions so students can make informed comparisons. And we’ve got to continue federal funding for critical job training programs. To date, Missouri has benefited from more than $50 million in federal funds directed at community colleges to design education and training programs that prepare workers for in-demand jobs in their region.
Missouri families deserve the reassurance that their kids can go to college without being financially handcuffed for years after they graduate. And all Missourians deserve a secure economic future.
U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill earned her early education through Missouri public schools and is a graduate of the University of Missouri. She can be contacted through McCaskill.Senate.gov/contact.
