Today Senator Warner spoke on the Senate floor to give voice to hundreds of Virginia students and graduates concerned about the increasing burden of student loan debt. Sen. Warner urged his colleagues to consider a series of bipartisan proposals to ease the cost of higher education, and provide more flexibility for graduates to repay their student loans.  

Since November of last year, Sen. Warner has hosted dozens of roundtable conversations across Virginia with hundreds of students, graduates, college officials and others to explore ways to make college more affordable and student loan debt more manageable.

“Right now in Washington, we are again having a conversation about refinancing student loans, which I support. But I also think this conversation is shortsighted. We need to be bolder and go further,” Sen. Warner told his colleagues. “I have introduced and will continue to push for a set of bipartisan, targeted reforms that would reduce cost, increase transparency, and allow students to better manage their debt.”

Nationally, student loan debt now tops $1.2 trillion, outpacing credit card as the single largest source of debt for most U.S. households. Sen. Warner has introduced bipartisan legislation to strengthen income-based repayment programs, authorize employers to help employees pay-off student loans using pre-tax dollars, and provide more transparency through a single website to give greater transparency to college costs and employment prospects as high school students and their parents make college decisions.   

“Student loan debt is crushing this generation of young people,” Sen. Warner said. “That means too many young people are forced to put off decisions about starting a family, launching a startup business, or buying a home because of the burdens of student debt. Many young people find themselves working in jobs they didn’t train for just to pay off their student loans.”

“Like many Virginians, I could not have attended college without student loans, and I would not have been able to take a chance on starting a business if my debt had been what many students today are paying,” Sen. Warner said. “I failed twice before I found success: I got a fair shot. But I worry that today too many young people are struggling under the burden of their student loan debt, or they opt out of attending college altogether. I want all Virginians to have the same fair shot I did. For Virginia to remain competitive in the new economy, we must work together to get this looming student debt crisis under control.”