Strickland seeks more aid to ease college debts

Average debt is nearly $30K for seven in 10 graduates at Ohio colleges.


Strickland plans to make college more affordable for students:

  • Free community college for "anyone willing to work for it."
  • Allowing borrowers to refinance student debt at lower interest rates.
  • Keeping student loan interest rates low.
  • Increasing Pell Grants.
  • Expanding income-based repayments.
  • Grants to encourage states to appropriate more to colleges.
  • Expanding the American Opportunity Tax Credit.

Meeting with a group of young Democrats at the University of Dayton Wednesday, former Ohio Governor and current U.S. Senate candidate Ted Strickland said the federal government should do more to help students who rack up huge college debts.

“Even if we didn’t have compassionate feelings for the plight of students or students’ parents, I think the implications for the [state and national] economy are really profound,” Strickland said.

He pointed out that seven in 10 graduates leave Ohio colleges with an average debt of nearly $30,000.

Only 68 percent of UD students take out student loans, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education, but the typical debt for those who do is $26,863, excluding debt from private lenders.

A few UD students told Strickland they will leave with a debt load that well exceeds the average.

Carly Goins, a fourth-year political science and human rights major, said when factoring in loans taken out by her parents, she owes more than $120,000 in student loans.

“My mom co-signed in my name,” the 21-year-old Goins said. “The expectation for me is that it’s my responsibility. My mom said, ‘I don’t have the money to pay this back.’”

Strickland said he wants to expand income-based repayment plans so “recent grads don’t pay more than they can afford while starting their careers.”

In addition, he said the federal government should provide states with grants to help lower the cost — a proposal at the center of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s higher education agenda.

“If the cost keeps escalating, it will put college out of reach for a lot of students,” Strickland said. He provided few other details.

The cost of college could emerge as a big issue in next year’s Senate race. Corry Bliss, the campaign manager for Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said the senator is the author of a resolution supporting the extension of the 50-year-old Perkins Loan Program — a student loan program for low-income students which lapsed on Oct. 1.

Bliss said college students should fear a return of Strickland to public office.

“When it comes to college education in Ohio, it’s hard to think of a worse advocate than Ted Strickland considering he proposed cutting numerous scholarship programs, cut higher education funding,” Bliss wrote in an email.

P.G. Sittenfeld, a Democrat running against Strickland, unveiled a higher education plan months ago. The Cincinnati City Council member wants to reduce interest rates on existing student loans and forgive one year of student loans for Pell Grant recipients.

Strickland’s words on student loan debt struck a chord with Zach Zugelder, a fourth-year political science major at UD.

Zugelder, a Carroll High School graduate, works part-time and his grandpa and mother provide assistance, he said, but his student loan debts are still around $35,000.

Zugelder’s sister is attending Sinclair Community College for now.

“She wants to transfer to UD,” he said. “My Mom made it clear she couldn’t send us both to UD at the same time.”

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