Senator Marco Rubio has a plan he says will make higher education more accessible. Rubio spoke at a Miami Dade College summit sponsored by the national Journal on Monday, and he used the opportunity to talk about fixing college.When Marco Rubio was growing up, his parents gave him an edict.
"From a very early age they used to tell us, 'tu tienes que estudiar', which means you have to study", recalled Rubio. "So growing up I don’t ever recall not considering going to college".
Rubio talked at length about his education with an audience of students, advocates and press. He described how, once he graduated from law school, he was surprised he couldn’t afford the repayments on his $100,000 student loan.
He then outlined his platform for making college more accessible and reducing what he calls the opportunity gap. Rubio supports a bill that would allow students to see the employment and salary statistics for graduates of different majors.
He also wants to streamline college tax credits for families. And he suggested changing the way schools are regulated so that it would be easier for online and start-up schools to get accredited.
At the end, during a question and answer session, Rubio explained how he got out of his own student debt.
"Now fortunately, I paid that off with a book I wrote, An American Son, now available in paperback", laughed Rubio.
The political memoir was a New York Times bestseller.