奥巴马总统每周电台演讲:总统呼吁国会要阻止助学贷款利率翻倍
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Hi. This week, I got the chance to sit down with some impressive students at Lorain County Community College in Ohio. One of them was a woman named Andrea Ashley. Two years ago, Andrea lost her job as an HR analyst. Today, she’s getting certified in the fast-growing field of electronic medical records. Before enrolling at Lorain, Andrea told me she was looking everywhere trying to find a new job. But without a degree, she said that nobody would hire her.
Andrea’s story isn’t unique. I’ve met so many Americans who are out there pounding the pavement looking for work only to discover that they need new skills. And I’ve met a lot of employers who are looking for workers, but can’t find ones with the skills they’re looking for.
So we should be doing everything we can to put higher education within reach for every American – because at a time when the unemployment rate for Americans with at least a college degree is about half the national average, it’s never been more important. But here’s the thing: it’s also never been more expensive. Students who take out loans to pay for college graduate owing an average of $25,000. For the first time, Americans owe more debt on their student loans than they do on their credit cards. And for many working families, the idea of owing that much money means that higher education is simply out of reach for their children.In America, higher education cannot be a luxury. It’s an economic imperative that every family must be able to afford. That’s why next week I’ll be visiting colleges across the country, talking to students about how we can make higher education more affordable – and what’s at stake right now if Congress doesn’t do something about it. You see, if Congress doesn’t act, on July 1st interest rates on some student loans will double.
Nearly seven and half million students will end up owing more on their loan payments. That would be a tremendous blow. And it’s completely preventable.This issue didn’t come out of nowhere. For some time now, I’ve been calling on Congress to take steps to make higher education more affordable – to prevent these interest rates from doubling, to extend the tuition tax credit that has saved middle-class families millions of dollars, and to double the number of work-study jobs over the next five years.Instead, over the past few years, Republicans in Congress have voted against new ways to make college more affordable for middle-class families, and voted for huge new tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires – tax cuts that would have to be paid for by cutting things like education and job-training programs that give students new opportunities to work and succeed.We cannot just cut our way to prosperity. Making it harder for our young people to afford higher education and earn their degrees is nothing more than cutting our own future off at the knees. Congress needs to keep interest rates on student loans from doubling, and they need to do it now.
This is a question of values. We cannot let America become a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of people struggle to get by. We’ve got to build an economy where
everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. That’s how the middle class gets stronger. That’s an economy that’s built to last. And I’m not only going to take that case to college campuses next week – I’m going to take it to every part of the country this year. Thanks, and have a great weekend.
大家好，本周，我有幸来到俄亥俄州洛雷恩县社区大学，与这里让人难忘的学生们座谈。他们当中有一位叫安德拉·阿什利的女士。安德拉曾是一位人力资源分析师，两年前她失业了。今天，她在电子医疗档案这一快速增长的领域获得了认证证书。安德拉告诉我说，在入学之前，她也曾到处找过工作，但没有学位，没有人想雇她。
安德拉的故事并不是特例。我遇到过大量辛辛苦苦找寻工作的人们，他们都发现自己需要新的技能。我也遇到过大量的雇主在寻找员工，但是总是找不到他们所需要的具备相应技能的人员。
因此，我们应该想尽一切办法让每个美国人都有机会接受高等教育，因为当下至少拥有大学学历人群的失业率只是全国平均水平的一半，所以高等教育从来没有现在显得这么重要。但另一个实事是，它也从来没有这么昂贵过。贷款上学的学生毕业后平均担负2.5万美元的债务。这也是第一次出现美国人在助学贷款上的债务要比信用卡的债务高的情况。对大量工薪家庭而言，高等教育需要担负如此沉重的债务负担意味着他们的孩子不敢轻言想上大学了。
在美国，高等教育不应该是奢侈品。从经济承受力讲它应该是每个家庭都能担负得起的必需品。这也是下周我将巡访全国大学的原因，我将与学生们一起谈论如何让高等教育能更让人担负得起，以及当下如果国会不对此采取一些措施将有什么危机等问题。大家都知道，如果国会不行动，从7月1日开始，部分助学贷款利率将翻一倍。有将近750万学生将因此增加月供还款额。这将是一个重大的打击，而这本身是完全可以避免的。
这个问题并不是无中生有。一段时间以来，我一直在呼吁国会采取措施让高等教育更接近平民承受能力，阻止贷款利率翻倍，并扩大学费税抵免范围，为中产家庭节约百万美元资金，同时把半工半读的助学岗位在未来9年里增加一倍。
相反，在过去几年里，国会的共和党人却投票反对各种让大学对中产家庭更能承受得起的新措施，而支持对亿万富豪们减免巨额税款，减免的这些税款的来源正是砍掉本来是应该用在教育、职业培训计划上的资金，它剥夺了学生在职业上取得成功的机会。
我们不能自断走向繁荣的道路。让年轻人更加艰难的担负高等教育的学费、获取学位无异于砍掉我们走向未来的双腿。国会不能让助学贷款利率翻倍，他们应该马上行动。
这是一个价值观的问题。我们不能让美国成为一个只有越来越少的人获得巨大成功而大量的其他人却只能挣扎生活的国度。我们应该建设一个人人都享有公平的机遇，人人都承担平等的义务，人人都遵守相同的规则的经济体。这才是让中产阶级变得强大的途径。这才是建设可持续发展的经济体的途径。我不仅仅会将这个观念带到我下周到访的各个大学，我还将把它带来我今年到访的全国各个地方。谢谢大家，周末愉快。
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