Representative Virginia Foxx: 'No Tolerance' For Graduates With Big Student Loans To Pay

WASHINGTON -- Representative Virginia Foxx (R - N.C.) expressed either tough love or ambivalence toward students who find themselves deep in debt, depending on who you ask.

Foxx, who is chairwoman of the house Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training, said on the Gordon Liddy Radio Show that it took her seven years to finish school. She added that over those seven years, she borrowed nothing.

"I have very little tolerance for people who tell me that they graduate with $200,000 of debt or even $80,000 of debt because there's no reason for that," Foxx continued. "We live in an opportunity society and people are forgetting that. I remind folks all the time that the Declaration of Independence says 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' You don't sit on your butt and have it dumped in your lap."

The Bronx native worked as one of her high school’s janitors before she enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She graduated in 1968, according to her congressional biography.

Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) responded to her comments on Monday afternoon from the house floor.

"Incredibly, the chair of the Subcommittee for Higher Education spoke last week in North Carolina and said, 'I have very little tolerance for people who tell me they graduate with $200,000 in debt or even $80,000 of debt.' Really?

"It is a sad statement when today's Republican party turns its back on a program that helps millions of Americans fulfill their dreams, and that is named after a Republican Senator, Robert Stafford of Vermont," Courtney said.

Foxx’s spokesperson told The Huffington Post via email, “Congresswoman Foxx is concerned about rising college costs and the burdensome effect a large sum of debt can have on a student's future. She believes the focus should be on making college more affordable and providing students and parents with the information necessary to make informed decisions about college and understand the cost and the implications of those personal decisions.”

Also on HuffPost

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• Ryan Budget Whacks Pell Grants, Makes Federal Student Loans More Expensive

  Pell grants are the financial aid packages given to low-income college students which they do not have to pay back. Students who receive them are not required to attend a public college or even stay in their homestate, so that freedom has made it a fairly popular program. However, Rep. Paul Ryan's <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/27/pell-grants-paul-ryan-budget_n_1383178.html" target="_hplink">proposed federal budget would cut $200 million</a> from the program, and potentially eliminate help for more than 1 million students. Currently the maximum Pell grant award is $5,645, which only covers about a third of the cost of attending college. Ryan's budget would cut Pell grant eligibility for students who attend classes on less than halftime. His budget would also make it so college students with federal student loans would have to start paying interest on their loans while still in school.

• Student Loans And Bankruptcy

  Thanks to the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act in 2005, virtually no student loans can be discharged in bankruptcy. So in practical terms, if you have $200,000 in debt for credit cards, car payments, or mortgage payments from a private bank, they can all be wiped away in bankruptcy. However, student loans from the same private lender cannot. The argument is that you can take away someone's car when they file bankruptcy, but you cannot take away their education. The Senate <a href="http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/student-loan-ranger/2012/03/28/looming-student-debt-crisis-hits-the-senate" target="_hplink">heard testimony</a> on March 20 about whether or not this should be changed. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-20/durbin-urges-private-student-loans-be-discharged-in-bankruptcy.html" target="_hplink">leading the charge for bankruptcy reform</a> that would allow students to get rid of their student loan debt when and if they file bankruptcy.

• Student Loan Forgiveness Act

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/10/student-loan-forgiveness-act-2012-hansen-clarke_n_1415910.html" target="_hplink">HuffPost Detroit reported</a> on the Student Loan Forgiveness Act, put forward by Rep. Hansen Clarke (D-Mich.): <blockquote>H.R. 4170 would forgive student loan debt for those who have paid 10 percent of their discretionary income toward their loans for 10 years and would cap interest on federal student loans at the current rate of 3.4 percent. Individuals who go into teaching, public service or practice medicine in underserved areas would have their debt forgiven after only five years. "Everyone tells us to go to school and work hard and we'll be rewarded for our dedication," Clarke said. "But the promise of a dream can turn into a nightmare for so many people."</blockquote>

• Petition For Student Loan Forgiveness Act

  An <a href="http://signon.org/sign/support-the-student-loan" target="_hplink">online petition</a> hosted by MoveOn.org has nearly reached its goal of attaining 875,000 signatures in support of the Student Loan Forgiveness Act. The Forgiveness Act would allow students who make payments equal to 10% of their discretionary income for 10 years to have their remaining federal student loan debt forgiven. According to talking points included in the petition, "If you have already been making payments on your student loans, your repayment period would likely be shorter than 10 years. The amount you have already paid on your student loans over the past decade would be credited toward meeting the requirement for forgiveness."

• Student Loan Interest Rates: They May Double

  A 2007 law that kept federally subsidized Stafford loan interest rates low will expire this summer, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/21/student-loan-interest-rate_n_1371236.html" target="_hplink">meaning the rates would double</a> from 3.4 to 6.8 percent. Students have already gone to Capitol Hill to protest and most Democrats are in favor of keeping the interest rates low. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) proposed a bill that would get rid of the expiration date on the discounted student loan rate. However, Republicans argue it would cost the federal government $5.7 billion, which they say is way too much. If Congress does not act, the interest rates for federal student loans would increase on June 30, 2012.

• No Definition Of Credit Hours

  Republicans passed a bill out of committee that would repeal minimum standards for a credit hour and removes the need for a state to authorize higher education institutions in their state. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) <a href="http://edworkforce.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=281565" target="_hplink">contends this would allow</a> greater flexibility for schools, Democrats counter that it opens the door for fraud. The federal definition of a <a href="http://democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/blog/overturning-accountability-and-integrity-measures-higher-education-programs-facts-hr-2117" target="_hplink">credit hour is the basic unit</a> underlying the distribution of federal student aid. Rep. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.) <a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/03/15/essay-argues-against-bill-overturn-us-rules-higher-ed-oversight#ixzz1qXWVjWPA" target="_hplink">wrote on Inside Higher Ed</a> that the bill represents a threat to the government's ability to police institutional fraud in the higher education industry. In regards to eliminating the requirement for state authorization for colleges, Bishop said "the bill would make it impossible for states to guarantee the quality of programs operating inside their borders."

• Pell Grants Are Now Semester Limited

  A rule from the Obama administration <a href="http://www.wtva.com/news/local/story/Longtime-students-may-be-shocked-at-new-law/nDgQP5Yu9ES5KSkIJJYXiw.cspx" target="_hplink">will limit the use</a> of Pell grants to 12 full-time semesters, or approximately six years of studying. The new rule goes into effect July 1, and the Department of Education will contact students in April who have used up their allotted time in school.

• Investigate The Federal Loan Programs

  Congressional Republicans <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-28/republicans-call-for-congressional-probe-of-student-loan-program" target="_hplink">recently sent a letter</a> to the Government Accountability Office urging them to investigate the federal student loan program and whether they are "appropriately managing student debt." The federal government has turned to private debt collectors to collect money owed for student loans, while $67 billion of student loans are now in default, according to Businessweek. Those contractors out there trying to get students and graduates to pay up are paid on commission. The GOP <a href="http://edworkforce.house.gov/UploadedFiles/03-27-12_-_GAO_Letter_on_FFEL.pdf" target="_hplink">letter said</a> they were concerned borrowers who have defaulted are not getting adequate assistance to get back on track repaying their loans. The letter was signed by Rep. John Kline of Minnesota, chair of the House education committee; Sen. Michael Enzi of Wyoming, the ranking member of the Senate education committee; Reps. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina and Judy Biggert of Illinois; and Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma

• The CFPB Will See You Now

  The newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it will <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/05/student-loan-complaints-cfpb_n_1322037.html" target="_hplink">field complaints</a> about billing, confusing advertising and collection by private student lenders, and relay complaints about federal loans. "Getting a higher education can mean taking on significant debt - a big decision with a lot of consequences," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. It's safe to say the CFPB is pretty concerned about student debt among American college students. Rohit Chopra, the student loan ombudsman for the CFPB, had a grim forecast recently in a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/22/student-loan-interest-rate_n_1372506.html" target="_hplink">blog post about student debt</a>: "Students continue to borrow private student loans, which lack the income-based repayment and deferment options of federal student loans. If current trends continue, there will be consequences not just for young people, but for all of us."

From our partners

• 25 Signs You're A Hot Mess | Thought Catalog - thoughtcatalog.com

Comments

[8xInfinity]

04:43 PM on 07/26/2012

Well, to be fair, she earned her degree while working part time as a field nurse during the Battle of Gettysburg, so she does understand hard work in difficult times...

(Oh, she graduated in the NINETEEN-sixties? Gotcha.)

[Rene H Provencher]

03:26 PM on 07/26/2012

Those that graduated in 1968 (some using that to get out of fighting for their country). The Colleges were not quite as expensive as they are today! The Ultra rich ding bats in congress don't want a lot of poor people going to college! Who will clean their toilets or wash their laundry! I say to Foxx and idiot ilk from Va, Enjoy your unemployment! Not one bit of common sense. Those young people just said they owed that money. They never said they wouldn't pay it back, senseless idiot!

[Afsheen Siddiqui]

07:16 AM on 07/11/2012

There is an increasing the charges of education day by day, that is why, most of the parents to get students loan to fulfill the educational needs of their children. But, it is essential to find the most suitable plans for the financial security and to avoid debt. It is the responsibility of borrowers to pay it back and make on time payments. It is true that borrowing is not a crime but ii is essential to be loyal while getting these kinds of policies.
http://www.privatestudentsloans.net/

[Linda Edmondson]

04:23 AM on 05/16/2012

Ms. Foxx needs to be replaced as Chairman.

[Matt Twiford]

02:18 AM on 05/16/2012

If you are as upset as I am at Virginia Foxx please go to http://www.nc5th.us/

[ac2531]

10:57 AM on 04/26/2012

According to the National Center for Education Studies, the average annual expense (tuition, room, and board) a student could expect at a four-year public university in 1967 (Foxx's senior year of college) was $1,804.

This year, at the University of Missouri, a four-year public university that I am attending next fall, a student's estimated expense is $22,216.

Someone, please put a Representative at the head of this committee that has an understanding of the problems facing today's college student, and not this geriatric clown.

[Thom Simmons]

10:03 AM on 05/22/2012

They figure these differently. University of Missouri Kansas City had a figure of 47K. Must be how they include the whole package..

[Thom Simmons]

10:09 AM on 05/22/2012

Correction, $43,378 for 120 hours. It is a total of $361.49/hour for Missouri Residents but the figures are at
http://www.umkc.edu/adminfinance/finance/cashiers/undergraduate-tuition-fee-rates.asp

[lgleason]

08:28 AM on 04/26/2012

We cannot compare today's economic situation with 30 years ago. We live in a new normal. Ten years ago our public university tuition was $10,000. Now it is $25,000. How is a student supposed to work their way through college? My son is currently enrolled full-time, works 15 hours a week, and works full-time in the summer. He can't cover even half of the cost with his jobs.

My husband and I have raised our children to believe, "if you study and work hard, you'll have a middle-class income and a stable career." I no longer believe this.

If you think this generation of students does not have an impact on your future then you are sorely mistaken. These students are the decision makers of our senior years. Very shortly the retired (baby boomers) will outnumber the working age adults for the first time in our country's history. No matter how much the next generation works they cannot fill the gap for the enormous drain that we will be on healthcare in this country. If we ever want to regain even a glimmer of the American dream we must invest in the young people of our current workforce and those coming up behind them.

I do not believe the current generation is the "me" generation. I believe it is us. I can no longer tolerate the arguments that begin with "back when I was...", this is out of touch with reality and highly irresponsible.

[Maxamillan]

09:56 PM on 04/26/2012

The lower the interest rates, the greater the number of students seeking to get into colleges that can't accommodate them. Colleges are raising their tuition in response to Obama's give away. He is doing zero to keep the costs down.

[Thom Simmons]

02:36 PM on 04/30/2012

Let us just take a look at this. Foxx graduated in the 60s. The writer of this little note above would have us believe that the $1-2000 per annum went up to $15-50,000/annum in the time that has elapsed since President Obama took office. What on earth does that say about your opinion of the people here?!

[Thom Simmons]

03:22 PM on 04/30/2012

hard to refute

[JSiobhan]

12:25 AM on 04/26/2012

As a university administrator, I am troubled that the Chair of the House Higher Education Subcommittee has no understanding of the economic reality of today's college students. But even more disturbing was Foxx's comment on blaming the accumulation of student loan debt on laziness and lack of personal responsibility.

Compared to my years in college, my students work twice as hard in obtaining their degree because they know they must stay competitive in a global economy. These students are required to learn more or do more to navigate the complexity of their work environments and to prepare for a future of uncertainty and rapid change. Their academic work reaches beyond their classroom experience to acquire a broader range of job skills. Many have to complete of a nonpaying internship, take a semester to study abroad or participate in a multitude of co-curricular activities to gain an edge in today's job market.

Higher education in America was the great equalizer. It opened the doors for students from all socio-economic backgrounds in providing opportunity by working hard in school to gain admittance into a good university. But now Mitt Romney and Rep. Fox are telling parents that this path to American dream is attainable to those who can afford it and the role of government is to help American families face this bleak reality.

[Chaim Jacobson]

05:25 PM on 04/25/2012

We bailed out people with houses, now we have no money left to bail out student loans. OR you could go to city college and have $20000 in debt or work and pay it off like me and my friends did. AND STOP CASHING THE STUDENT LOAN CHECK YOU GET AND RETURN IT, YOU WILL OWE LESS LATER!!!!!!!!!!

[TrueDee]

11:06 PM on 04/28/2012

I see your concern but the article was addressing her intolerance for students who graduate with loans of more than $80,000 not to students who are not paying their debt. She describes these students with debt as lazy: “You don’t sit on your butt and have it dumped in your lap." I'm not sure how taking out a loan then working to pay that plus interest is lazy. Also, sometimes its just impossible not take out a student loan. Even if someone went to community college (which is unlikely in this case) then continued to medical or law school, $80,000 is barely scratching the surface. These students, I can assure you, are not sitting on their butts waiting for opportunity.

[Rene H Provencher]

03:36 PM on 07/26/2012

Foxx is not doing one damn thing to help lower college costs. Some colleges raise their rates to keep the football teams going big time. I don't have a problem with football. But those in charge need to see the need of young worthwhile students. They work hard. I know friends kids that op-ed out of med school, because of costs. Shame on this country. I believe in 4 free years of college, not 12 years plus of wars! I did the war and the college. Worked my butt off doing it! Ok it took me 30 years plus to do it! Happy to have done both! FOUR free years!!!! C'mon USA give youngsters four free years. Of course with rules and guidelines! How about free books?

[Thom Simmons]

02:41 PM on 04/30/2012

20 grand will get you a junior college AA. It is a good deal. You can go part-time and work full-time. I did that too. However, it will not get you a BA or an MA or an M. Eng. or a DDS or an MD or whatever. Can not be accomplished. Time to face facts: The guy who tells you that lump in your neck will kill you unless he cuts it out did not get a 20,000 dollar AA degree. Do not be so obtuse.

[LesaSays]

12:49 PM on 04/25/2012

How do you people keep voting for these un-American, un-Christ like, un-educated fools? WOW Common America we gotta do better!

[dzadzey]

05:14 AM on 04/25/2012

Dear Representative Foxx:

My niece will be graduating from medical school in June. She will be saddled with nearly $175,000 in student loans. She worked like a dog to get through medical school on her own merits and her own resources...her mother committed suicide on her first day of medical school and her father is a hopeless wastrel. Your stance represents the core of GOP anti-intellectualism. The elimination of an educated electorate is the first thing authoritarian governments do in undermining a democracy.

But that's OK with you and your fellow travelers...democracy is not something you really favor.

[Thom Simmons]

12:18 PM on 04/25/2012

Not sure I could have said it as well. The smarter we are, the less they like it? Been a fairly successful approach for the aristocracy for some time.

[richdove]

03:20 PM on 04/25/2012

Democracy is not free stuff, it's sacrifice. No one made your niece go into that much debt for medical school she did it on her own or made sacrifices. Who said her education would be paid by for by me and other tax payers? The only one undermining democracy is the current President who wants to make all our decision for us, is that Democracy?

[dzadzey]

07:49 AM on 04/26/2012

Remember that the next time you're in the ED with crushing chest pain and there's no doc to treat you because someone chose NOT to make the sacrifices and take on the crushing debt incurred in becoming a physician.

[TrueDee]

11:18 PM on 04/28/2012

"Who said her education would be paid by for by me and other tax payers?" No one. She took out the loan, she will be paying it back. But to have no tolerance for her to have that much debt is beyond ridiculous. There is no other route for her to become a doctor. Plus, I'd rather have a doctor who is willing to incur that much debt to help others than a doctor who went because they could afford it.

[spiritof1775]

05:03 PM on 04/24/2012

Seriously though? How much cheaper was education in 19-frigging-68? My tuition bill is nearly $1000 every semester with 14 credits, two scholarships, and financial aid. Times change. There used to be a lot of factories that payed well in my city. Man, it used to really be a shining city on the hill. But, uh, then Reaganomics happened. Since then...us young bucks and does only have one choice - get an education and get out.

It's not 1968. I know that's a year Republicans probably can't let go of but believe it or not it's 2012. And the foxes not only raided the hen house - the farm is burning down.

[richdove]

03:22 PM on 04/25/2012

You're the one living in 1968, no one else is at this time!

[spiritof1775]

04:57 PM on 04/24/2012

"Well, a lot of people go to school for seven years..."

"Yeah. They're called DOCTORS!"

[Thom Simmons]

12:25 PM on 04/25/2012

There are also other people who go to school for 10 years and more, they are called things like "astrophysicists" who are kind of important now that we know the sky may actually fall on our heads (it has done). Neurologists do a lot more than 7. Who else out there has to put in years of work that will never be done part-time? Your cardiologist. The guy who designs the imaging equipment that they use to decide whether or not that lump is benign or you have 2 months to live. The staff at CDC who are the last people you want with part-time degrees if someone suspects that white powder in your envelope is not used for baking. Long list. Fox is moronic. Her constituents need to have their heads examined for electing her.

[richdove]

03:24 PM on 04/25/2012

Her constituents did vote her in, over your objections, so what? move there and change it, if it bothers you!

[morbius]

11:00 AM on 04/24/2012

Boy, North Carolina. You must be proud.

[richdove]

03:24 PM on 04/25/2012

Proud of John Edwards?

[morbius]

10:56 AM on 04/24/2012

She is a stunning example of Peters Principal.... she has risen to her level of incompetency. Janitor is where she still belongs.

[Stephanie Hacker]

01:42 PM on 04/24/2012

this makes her a gingrich protegy going to school and being a janitor at the same time