Norm Coleman Quotes

I am here to give the American people some straight talk about higher education. Some have said we might have cut financial aid for college students. The truth is we have expanded access to college for our neediest students through the record growth of the Pell grant program.

Pell grants are the foundation of Federal student aid. As someone who attended college with the help of Pell grants and as chairman of the Pell Grant Caucus, I know how important they are for our Nation's low-income students.

Is there any more important problem than our lack of need-based scholarships? I think not.

Pell Grants aren't 'welfare,' they are a gateway to opportunity for some of our nation's best and brightest students.

So if a college education is indispensable, the challenge as I see it is how to make it more accessible.

The cost of college education today is so high that many young people are giving up their dream of going to college, while many others are graduating deeply in debt.

The need for a college education is even more important now than it was before, but I think that the increased costs are a very severe obstacle to access. It is an American dream, and I think that one of our challenges is to find a way to make that available.

When Rhode Island Senator Claiborne Pell first proposed the grants that now bear his name, he envisioned a way to help students attend our country's wonderful colleges and universities, so they could share in the American Dream.

It's one thing to make financial aid available to students so they can attend college. It's another thing to design forms that students can actually fill out.

After considering the ways that I might be able to help young college students, I decided to continue my support of the Light on the Hill scholarship. I would like to endorse this particular fund and encourage other former UNC students who have found success to reach back and assist the efforts of current and future Tar Heels.

I've given some money to the scholarships in the District of Columbia, to the best students in D.C... many of the students have written me letters telling me they could not have afforded to go to college without the scholarship and money I've given them.

Pell Grants open a lot of doors, but they rely on a solvent government.

Nontraditional students often have the misconception that aid is intended only for high school students entering college. Luckily, that's not the case.

It's great to talk about how good things are now. But we can't sit on our laurels and expect that our time will sustain itself if we don't do a better job on issues like education... It's absolutely the case that the low cost of college tuition that I was able to enjoy and the financial aid I was able to receive made my education possible.

The Republicans have chosen to neglect young Americans who need assistance with the costs of higher education.

No one should be denied the opportunity to get an education and increase their earning potential based solely on their inability to pay for a college education.

When we make college more affordable, we make the American dream more achievable.

Students can spend their money better than government can. It should not require a federal loan and decades of debt for students to get a college degree. Price limits access - plain and simple.

I wouldn't have gone to a Division I school if I didn't have scholarship help. We couldn't afford it.

Higher education is meant to provide economic opportunity to Americans - not provide unscrupulous companies the opportunity to syphon off billions in federal taxpayer dollars unfairly.

For millions of Americans, federally subsidized student loans and Pell Grants are an important resource for us to get ahead so we can achieve the American dream.

College costs continue to rise, and student loan debt threatens to price many Americans out of a college education and out of the middle class.

As the first member of my immediate family to graduate from college, making higher education more affordable and accessible is a top priority of mine.

I just believe strongly that anybody who wants to pursue additional education after high school ought to be given that chance.

A permanent, growing fund for student aid will help all Oregonians afford needed education and training and build a path towards a stronger future.