{"id":214,"date":"2019-07-17T18:18:01","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wcsu.wpengine.com\/news-archives\/blumenthalpressconference\/"},"modified":"2019-07-17T18:18:01","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:18:01","slug":"blumenthalpressconference","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/blumenthalpressconference\/","title":{"rendered":"2013 Blumenthal press conference"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Western Connecticut State University<\/a> President James W. Schmotter joined U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal<\/a> at the state Capital to urge Congress to work out a long-term plan to lower interest rates for students who take out federal loans to pay for college<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe cost of loans is a serious matter for the many Western students who must balance scholarship aid, loans and work in order to attend the university,\u201d Schmotter said. \u201cThis balance is fragile, and small changes such as an interest rate increase can have a large negative impact. At all levels of government, we should view financial aid for students as an investment in the state\u2019s and nation\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Congress has allowed interest rates on some subsidized student loans to rise as high as 8.25 percent, more than double the recent rate of 3.4 percent. Blumenthal pointed out that Connecticut college students who borrowed to pay tuition owed an average debt of $29,380 at graduation this May. (For WCSU graduates, the average debt was $18,219.)<\/p>\n

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\u201cCongress now has a moral obligation to our students and families to adopt meaningful measures to improve college affordability and access, which must include real reforms to reduce the $1 trillion student loan burden currently crippling our national economy,\u201d Blumenthal said.<\/p>\n

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Over the past several weeks, Blumenthal said, he met with students and administrators at colleges and universities across Connecticut.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey implored me to prevent interest rates from rising, and to do more to assist students, families and colleges with the prohibitive costs of education,\u201d he said. \u201cWe must keep faith with these students \u2014 our next greatest generation \u2014 and take real, meaningful steps now to address the national crisis of college affordability.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Schmotter said that if Congress can forge a new settlement that lowers interests rates for the foreseeable future, not only students but the entire country would benefit.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn recent years, we\u2019ve discussed financial institutions as being \u2018too large to fail\u2019 and government entitlement programs as \u2018too large to reform,\u2019 Schmotter concluded. \u201cThis generation of students is too large for us to fail, and I fear that\u2019s the direction in which the most recent Senate compromise legislation takes us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs.\u00a0 Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York.\u00a0 Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics of New England\u2019s best small private universities.
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