Edwards Statement On Federal Subsidies For Student Loans

Chapel Hill, North Carolina – In response the conference agreement announced yesterday in Congress on federal subsidies for student loans, Sen. John Edwards released the following statement:

"Every year, taxpayers spend billions subsidizing banks to make taxpayer-guaranteed student loans. The loan program is no longer working for students, who today graduate with three times more debt than students did only one decade ago.

"Instead of fixing the problem, we are witness to another sad example that proves Washington is broken and that it's time for real change in America. While Democratic leaders in Congress were right to cut bank subsidies to spend more on student aid, they were wrong to preserve any wasteful subsidies that benefit banks at the expense of students. We do not need to compromise with for-profit lenders that spend millions of dollars a year lobbying to protect their subsidies.

"As president, I will eliminate these wasteful subsidies entirely and instead let all students borrow directly from the Department of Education, as millions of students already do. My plan will free up almost $6 billion a year and pay for most of my College for Everyone proposal – paying for the first year of public-tuition, books and fees for more than 2 million students."