Today, Senator Mark Warner joined 28 students and student leaders from a variety of majors via teleconference at Radford University today.

Radford Student Body President Justin Blankenship opened up the discussion by introducing  the topic of their class: "Ethical Perspectives on American Public Policy."  After his introduction, Senator Warner said he was eager to get to the questions students had for him.

One business student in attendance asked the Senator what his thoughts were on college affordability and recent steps to help students balance a good education and the debt that many are now taking on. The Senator, a sponsor of the bipartisan  “Know Before You Go” Act, responded that while the recent interest rate fix was a step forward, it was not enough to tackle the mounting debt problems facing many Americans pursuing higher education.

“As a business guy, I know we need to lower the cost of higher education so young entrepreneurs are not so strapped that they can’t take risks to create new and innovative companies,” said Senator Warner.

“When I went to college, my parents didn’t have the means to pay for my school," said Senator Warner. “Student loans were how I put myself through my undergraduate education. So, I know firsthand the difficulties facing students who want a college degree.”

Senator Warner said the goal of lowering the cost of a college education must be a bipartisan undertaking and must tackle a range of problems- not simply the cost of tuition.

“There are three comprehensive changes I think we can do in Congress  to help make college more affordable: 1) make it easier for students to take the more affordable community college path to college. 2) We need to work with colleges to ensure more credits are accepted from accelerated and dual-credit classes are accepted as core course credits on their college transcript. This would allow students who seek a 4 year degree to perhaps get some courses out of the way in high school and get done with college in perhaps 3 ½ years or maybe even less," said Senator Warner. "Finally, we must work to align the financial incentives of students and colleges. Colleges must be incentivized to get their students hired after they receive their degree. They cannot simply send students off with lots of debt and expect their job to be done.”