EMAIL DETAILS

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President
For Immediate Release January 19, 2012


REMARKS BY VICE PRESIDENT JOSEPH BIDEN
ON COLLEGE AFFORDABILITY

Galena High School
Galena, Nevada


1:50 P.M. PST

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Please, please sit down. (Applause.) I'm the late Joe Biden. (Laughter.) The very, very late Joe Biden. You know when you all get to college you're going to learn you only have to wait 10 minutes for an adjunct professor and 20 minutes for a full professor. You're waiting for me this long I just want to thank you, and I think you made a mistake. (Laughter.)

But, folks, I want to explain, we took off from San Francisco this morning. We were ready to leave -- and by the way, students, I apologize for my back to you all -- and we got in Air Force Two and were told we could not land in Reno. I was hoping that wasn't a political statement. I was -- (Laughter.) But we could not land in Reno because of wind shear, and the airport would not be able to accommodate us at least for another hour and a half. But we could land in Fallon -- which was 888 miles from here. (Laughter.) So we flew into Fallon, and the ride was longer than I thought, any rate. And I genuinely apologize to you. I apologize to the teachers. And the parents who are here, you've probably lost your job now for having to come. (Laughter.)

I hope we can make it up with a little college help, but thank you all so very much for taking the time to be here and to wait.

Folks, we -- Tony and I and the Secretary of Education, we've been going around the country for the last -- I guess it's been about a year now talking about college affordability, and the reason for it is that -- to be very blunt about it, Barack and Michelle Obama and my wife, Jill, who is here going to a community college, I might add, who is a full-time professor at a community college while being Second Lady, we four know that there was -- be no possibility, none from the background we came from unless we had help, financial assistance to get to college.

And there's been a bargain -- your parents will know -- there's been a bargain that's existed over the last 70, 80 years in America that the middle class would -- there'd be access for the middle class if you worked hard, if you played by the rules, if you went out and got yourself an education, if you were part of creating the productivity this economy produces, that you'd be made part of the deal. You could advance.

But over the last 10 to 12 years, that bargain has been increasingly broken. The economy even when it was doing well from 1995 to 2007, productivity in America was up over 20 percent, yet middle-class people lost footing. They lost standing. They literally saw their incomes on average drop $2,500 a year. First time -- first time in modern American history when the nation was moving forward economically, the middle class was moving backward.

And I come from a family like, I guess, a lot of you. And the reason we chose this school -- and thank you for allowing us to, I say to the superintendent and the principal -- is because we're going to schools around America -- in Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan -- all across the nation to high schools which have done an incredibly good job in basically middle-class environments and working-class environments, where the majority of the students are able to qualify, at minimum, to go to college, and where there is an overwhelming desire to go to college.

I grew up in a family. I wasn't -- we weren't poor, but we lived in a -- like an awful lot of people -- in a split-level, three-bedroom home with four kids, and we thought we were doing just fine. I didn't realize until I got elected to the Senate at age 29 that I was lower middle-class. We never thought of it that way. But that -- I guess economically, we were slightly below, a little below the average.

And I grew up in a family where my dad, from the time I can remember, who was -- who did not go to college -- was a graceful, well-read, educated -- self-educated man, who was a salesman. He was a manager of an automobile dealership in Delaware for a long time. Where -- my dad, from the time I was a kid said, which maybe your parents have said to you -- he used to say, Joey, you're going to be a college man. You're going to go to college. He said the same to my sister Valerie and my two brothers.

And I always asked dad, why was it so important for me to go to college, for real. And his response was always the same. He said, Joey, they can take your job from you, or they can take a lot from you when you get older. But they can never take your education. And I used to literally think, well, what difference does it make if I don't have a job? (Laughter.) Seriously, what difference does it make?

And it wasn't until I got older that I realized that a college education is about a lot more than a paycheck and a job. It's a little about who you are. It's a little bit about how the middle-class has defined themselves. It's been the central element of the bargain that we've made, which is that every family has the prospect -- every mother, every father has the prospect of putting their child in a position where they may be able to do better than they did, that they might have a better chance.

And that dream is sort of evaporated. When I'm on high school campuses like today, especially this time of year, it brings back great memories as a high school senior, but also the feeling -- are most of you seniors that are here? All of the seniors raise your hand. (Applause.)

Well, you'll hear your parents say, oh, you're lucky being a senior. Like devil you're lucky being a senior. You've got a lot of -- I wouldn't go back for all the rice in China, as they say. And I did pretty well. I was a pretty good athlete statewide in a couple of sports. I got chances to go to college to play sports. And I liked high school.

But we forget the pressure. You all have exams coming up. (Laughter.) And you all just filled out those applications. And you wondered, is the essay good enough? Did I do it well? Did I pick the right schools? What are my chances? Am I going to get in? Your parents wondered, why in the hell -- heck do those -- (laughter) -- why do those applications cost so much? (Laughter.) And what am I going to do if they get in? What am I going to do if I get in?

Folks, look, middle-class people and access to college has sort of hit a perfect storm over the past six, seven years -- maybe a little longer. And that is that the rest of the world has awakened to what we used to do. The reason for our greatness was we were the first major nation in the world to make sure that every single, solitary person in America had 12 years of education. No other country did that -- Great Britain, Germany, no one. No other country did that. You were guaranteed some education, but not guaranteed and required to have 12 years of education.

But beginning in the '70s and '80s, an awful lot of emerging countries -- they call countries -- there's a phrase called BRIC countries. The BRIC country means the emerging major markets -- Brazil, Russia, India and China. And what they did is they started to catch up. And they invested hundreds of billions of the equivalent of dollars in education -- hundreds of billions of dollars in teachers' salaries, hundreds of billions of dollars in competing -- because they figured out what we knew for a long time, that the most educated nation in the world will be the nation that leads the world economically, politically, and I might add militarily.

And so, they started to close the gap. Just a decade ago, we were number one in the world in the percentage of students we graduated from college. We now are number 16, as the Secretary said. Another thing that happened was the middle class started to get squeezed badly, as I said, around the year 2000, 2001. And it has just escalated since then.

And the third thing that happened out there was you know better than any community, any state this God-awful recession hit and two things happened. Eight million people lost their jobs before we passed the first piece of legislation after we were elected, meaning that state revenues began to implode and collapse, because the recession hit everybody. It means your state -- less than most -- but all states drastically cut their aid to education, particularly to college. In your state it's about 15 percent, other states it's as high as 32 percent.

So college tuition started to skyrocket. It already had been going up exponentially. It's gone up faster than the cost of health care. It's gone up faster than anything. Just since you all were in eighth grade -- those of you who are graduating now -- to go to a state university, it's twice as expensive as it was just when you were in eighth grade.

And at the same time that's happening, your parents -- a lot of them did for your older brothers and sisters, if you have any, did what I did to get my kids through school. I borrowed against the equity of my home. But with this recession and these crazy instruments Wall Street came up with on mortgages, what happened? In the state of Nevada, more than any other state in the nation, the bottom fell out of housing. Your parents, collectively across America, lost $16 trillion in wealth. They saw the value in their home evaporate.

Some saw -- you actually find through no fault of their own, never having missed a mortgage payment, finding that they were so-called upside-down in their mortgages. Two houses down the street foreclosed because of the mortgages that they had taken out. Because of the state of the economy, three other people lost their job. And all of a sudden, your mom or dad who had a job and never missed a payment on their home found out they owed more on their home than their home was worth, and they lost all that ability to send their kids to school because that's how I sent my kids to school.

I am listed -- I'm not proud of it, but it's a fact. For all the years I was a senator, I was listed the poorest man in the Congress. (Laughter.) I make no bones about that. You're clapping -- and recently when I got elected Vice President, we do financial disclosure -- and, again, I apologize for my back to you all. I feel badly. They recently published -- ABC and The Washington Post said, and I think I'm quoting it, paraphrasing close, it said: It's probable no man has ever assumed the office of Vice President with fewer assets than Joe Biden. (Laughter.) I assume they were talking about financial assets. (Laughter and applause.)

ABC recently ran -- they were talking about the millionaires in the Cabinet and the Congress and said, there is an exception: Joe Biden. (Laughter.) His net worth is somewhere between $55,000 and $155,000. I got home and my wife said, Joe, is that true? (Laughter.) Is that true, as if I'd been fooling around or something. (Laughter.)

The reason I bother to tell you that is I come from a family like a lot of your parents and you come from where when it came time for me to go to college, it was really very difficult for my dad to go borrow the money.

I remember my dad, as I said, we moved from northeast Pennsylvania, a town called Scranton to Wilmington, Delaware when I was in fourth grade. My dad made what I refer to as the longest walk any parent can make, and you know a lot of people in this state have made that walk. And that walk is up a short flight of stairs to their child's bedroom to say, Honey, I'm sorry, but you're not going to be able to go back to Galena. You're not going to be able to go play in that softball team. You're not going to be able to be in the Little League. You can't sign in the choir. The bank told mom and dad we can't live here any more. We got to leave. Or to say, Honey, we got to move, Daddy, lost his job. Mommy lost her job.

My dad made that walk in my Grandpop Finnegan's house when I was in third grade, going into fourth. I remember it vividly. I wasn't frightened by it because my dad was reassuring. But I remember him coming up the stairs, my younger sister in the same room with me, and saying, Joey, Dad's going to have to move. And I thought, oh, God, is something happening. Like you know they divorced or something. And I said, why? He said, well, there's no good jobs here in Scranton, Honey. And I got to move down to Wilmington, Delaware with Uncle Frank, and there's jobs down there. And I'm going to come home every weekend. It's only 157 miles. To a kid going into the fourth grade that seemed like a million miles. He said, I'll try to come home every weekend, but about -- take about a year, and when I get a place, Honey, we'll bring you and mom and all -- excuse me all the kids down.

It wasn't until I got to be about 27, 28, I realized maybe the longer walk -- and you parents will understand this -- my dad was a graceful, decent, proud man. And the longer walk he probably had to make was into my Grandfather Finnegan's pantry to say, Ambrose, I need a favor. Can you take care of Jill -- Jill is my wife -- take care of Jean and the kids. It will be about a year. I promise I'll pay you back. No man or woman should have to make that walk. No man or woman should have to make that walk. But a lot of people have made it.

And so when it came time for me to go to college, it was kind of tough. I remember, as I said, my dad ran an automobile agency. And one of the great advantages of that is I was always able to take my date to the prom in a really cool car. (Laughter.) Seriously. I remember after a baseball game in the little town I lived in called Claymont, Delaware, driving down to Newark, Delaware, where the university is, where the dealership was, about 25-minute drive and I had finished the ballgame, still in my uniform, jumped in the car, drove down as quick as I could, went into the showroom, and said to my dad's secretary, Mary, I said, where's dad? She said, he's out in the lot, Honey.

And so I had driven my car down to get a car to take my girl to her junior prom -- it was my senior year, but I was dating a girl at a different school who was a junior. And I walked out and my dad was pacing back and forth -- as I said, my dad was a really graceful fellow -- and he had this worried look on his face. And he looked up and saw me and he said, Joey -- this an absolute true story -- I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. And I thought, my lord, what happened? Has something happened to mom or my brother or sister? And he said, I went to the Farmer's Bank -- used to be a state bank, it's no longer Farmer's bank. And he said -- and that was the bank that processed all the loans for the dealership. He said, I went to the Farmer's Bank, Honey, to ask for a loan to get you to Delaware. He said, I'm so ashamed. I'm so ashamed. They won't lend me the money.

This thing about college is not just about the kids. It's about the pride and dignity of your mothers and fathers who look at their beautiful children knowing the potential that's there. And there's nothing worse for a parent than to know they can't help. They can't help.

When it came time to send my kids to college -- and I had three in college; they're out of college now. And I made the mistake some of you parents probably made. Some of the -- the mistake the class president's parents probably made. I said, whatever school you can get into, I'll get you there. (Laughter.) Well, as I said, just a week, or -- a couple weeks, ABC said, Joe Biden is in the lower half -- the lower percentage of people with income in the administration. And it's probably because his only salary is his salary. I make a great salary as the Vice President. I'm the only one in the whole administration who got a pay raise. (Laughter.)

And they were wrong. The reason I still remain one of the poorest men around -- and I'm not poor, but relatively speaking -- is because of 20 years of undergraduate and graduate school. My first son went to the University of Pennsylvania and then Syracuse Law School. Today, relative cost: $52,000 a year for each, seven years.

Guys -- (laughter) -- here's the deal, as we were riding in I watched a bunch of fire trucks ride by me. And you apparently have a fire in the nearby hills. And they just told me if I don't let you guys get out of here relatively soon, they're going to make you get out of here, and it will take you a heck of a long time to get where you have to go.

Let me end my speaking, and if we can -- do I have five minutes? Let me answer any question anybody has. Let's start off. Yes --

Q What do you think about SOPA?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: What do I think about SOPA? You mean the thing regarding the Internet? I think that there are two things -- I'm not going to spend time answering the question. I'll send you a quick paper on it because it's not about college.

But the bottom line here is, the issue is: What do you do about the fact that we're losing about 200,000 jobs through piracy and counterfeiting by people in China and in other countries? What do you do about that? And so you have websites that are foreign-based websites that sell, for example, counterfeit drugs. And they label the drugs as if they were, for example, Tegetrol or aspirin or anything. And they label it as if it's their product, and they sell it. And they cost people here jobs, and they risk the health of American people.

There was a proposal made in the Congress to say that if the Attorney General goes out there and finds one of these sites that, in fact, is engaged in counterfeiting, jeopardizing the health and safety of the American people, he can get a court order, and he can tell Yahoo! and Google and the rest of them, you cannot -- when somebody says, basically, get me to that site selling that illegal drug, you cannot get -- they cannot put the site up. They cannot send you there.

They argued that it is a violation of their -- they argued it may violate freedom of speech, that it will interfere with the Internet, et cetera. And a lot of people responded. The end result is things are at a stalemate now, and the two bills are in the Congress. There was a thing called PIPA and SOPA and so on, and the question is we have to do something about piracy. It costs us about $120 billion a year in lost revenue to the American people, and it costs us about 250,000 jobs a year because people aren't making that drug at Merck and people aren't making that -- making that disc with a record on it at MGM Studios, and the people who made -- for example, China allows only five films a year to be -- American films to be shown in China. They got 4,600 theaters, only allow five films to go in China, yet they want total access to the American market.

And so there's all kinds of things like that. There are pieces of the legislation that didn't make sense, some that did. We're trying to work out a compromise, and I met last night with the chairman of the board of Yahoo! and the chairman of the board of -- who else was I with? Google and with Apple, et cetera, and then I'm meeting tonight with a number of the studio heads to see if we can work out a deal. It's a lot more complicated than that, but ask me about college, okay, before you all get smoked out.

Q Over here.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Okay, fire away.

Q My name is Nathaniel Hawes (ph). I'm a senior at Reno High School. A lot of people talk about student loans and having to pay back those debts. What do you think is good financial advice in terms of when to take a student loan and for how much money and how to think about --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Let me tell you a few facts because I didn't get a chance to even talk about what we've done. I started to talk about the plight people find themselves in.

When we came into office, we knew we had to do something -- we believed we had to something to preserve access to college, and here's what we did. Number one, we were paying $60 billion over 10 years to banks -- they're not bad. Banks are doing it honestly. We were paying $60 billion to banks to process a loan. You applied for a federal loan, you went to a bank. The bank charged a fee, the government paid the fee. You got the loan. We decided cut out the middle man, which was a great big fight with our friends on the other side. Not one of them voted to do it, but we cut it out, and we took that $60 billion over 10 years, and what we did is we made sure that you'd be able to take that money. And we put it toward Pell grants.

If you're from a family that has an income roughly below $50,000, you get $5,800 a year; 9 million more kids are in school. Right here in the state of Nevada you have -- if memory serves me right -- somewhere in excess of 40,000 students in college today, right now, right this minute because of Pell grants, who would not be able to go to school.

The second thing we did, we said you should -- your parents or you if you're independent be able to get a tax credit up to $10,000 sending your kids to school. So for every kid you have in school, if you're in school, you're paying tuition that's more than $2,500 or room or board -- adds up to more than $2,500, and your taxes come to 2,500 bucks -- federal taxes, you don't have to pay any tax. You get to write off $2,500 as a credit.

If you only owe a thousand dollars, you get a check back for $1,500. You have over 80,000 people in this state able to keep their kids in school because they take advantage of that tax credit.

The third thing we did was we found in your state or most states, for example, the average student will graduate from college -- a Nevadan who graduates from college this year will graduate, they'll be handed a diploma and a bill for $25,000. And that's a lot of money to have to start off with before you get your first job.

And so what we said was that's forcing people to go out and find jobs that they don't want that pay more -- that they don't want to do. They may want to come back and teach at Galena. They might want to go work for a nonprofit. They may want to join the military. They may want to do a lot of things.

And what happens is they have to pay that -- too much back on a monthly basis, so let's say you came back and you -- let's stay the starting teacher's salary is $35,000 a year. Right now before we passed the law, before we changed the law, you'd have to pay $300 a month. Now you'd have to pay back less than $200 a month because -- you have to pay it back, but you -- you don't have to pay back any more than 10 percent of your disposable income. That makes it reasonable for somebody who wants to go in the military, somebody who wants to do something other than have to go out there and just make enough money to make sure they can do it because 300 bucks off the top, 320 a month, and you add on top of that your car payment, your insurance and everything, it's hard to handle.

Now, they're the things we did very quickly. You asked the question basically what advice about taking -- I know -- (laughter) -- what advice is there about -- what advice is there about taking out these loans. Well, let me make it clear to you: College is still worth it.

To the parents I say the most disturbing thing out there right now is that 51 percent of the American people over -- of families with college-age students think it's -- the cost of college is not worth it anymore, and so they don't want to do it. It is worth it.

Anybody graduating from college -- a four-year college versus graduating from only high school, you will on average make $21,900 a year the rest of your life more than your counterpart who graduates from high school. If you go to community college, you'll make an average $8,000 more. The unemployment rate in America and in Nevada is very high. It's over 8 percent, and in some place, closer to 9 percent.

Now, if you have a college degree, the unemployment rate, nationally, is 4.1 percent. It's half that rate. So it is worth it. It is worth it. So it's very important that we make it more affordable for you to be able to get to college. That's why our administration has invested $25 billion -- of taxpayers' money -- but $25 billion in upgrading community colleges. Community colleges are becoming the single best-kept secret in America.

If you go to the local community college here for two years, you can transfer all those credits to the University of Nevada. You can transfer all those credits, and you only have to pay a -- on average, community colleges -- I don't know what they are here, exactly, the one here -- but about $2,500 a year. And most of the time you go to community college, you're able -- not that you want to, necessarily -- live at home. And so you're able to save enough money and still get a four-year degree. So it is very much still worth it.

I can take a couple more questions. Back here. Any parent want to ask me a question?

Q Back here!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Is there any parent who wants to ask a question? Okay. The woman standing all the way in the back.

Q (Inaudible.)

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Where we stand with the green act -- the DREAM Act, the President and I are absolutely, positively, four-square for the DREAM Act. (Applause.) It makes -- look, look, it makes no sense not to educate everyone in this country who is here with a college degree.

We'd go further -- and this is going to be controversial. We think anybody who comes to this country -- legally, in terms of exchange programs from other countries -- if they get a PhD from a university, they should -- when they get handed their PhD, get a seven-year green card. We want to keep them. (Applause.)

We are short -- we are short 350,000 computer engineers. The main reason for my meeting in Silicon Valley last night was they have a shortage; average salary -- $90,000 a year. $90,000 a year, and there are not enough people with engineering degrees in America to fill that quota. That's why we also think we should be investing money in elementary, secondary education, and what they call STEM education. (Applause.) That's why we think in science and technology.

The last thing I'll say to you, and apparently -- is the fire marshal really saying that -- are you (Laughter.) I will, Senator.

Look, here's the thing. Here's the thing. Look, this is an awful thing to do to you guys. I come an hour-and-a-half late, and then they set a fire. (Laughter.) I'm only kidding about setting a fire. That was a joke. You have a beautiful smile, child. You light up the whole gym.

Look, I am -- I told you all, I got elected when I was 29 years-old. And everybody talked about me being this -- there's only one other person in the history of the United States ever got elected younger than I did. And I come, as I said, from a family that didn't -- we were normal. Didn't have anything. I used to joke, I'm the first United States senator I ever knew. (Laughter.) That's the truth. (Laughter.)

Here's the deal. They used to say I was optimistic then. I'm more optimistic today than I have ever been in my life. America is positioned to lead the world in the 21st century. We still have the greatest research universities in America. We still have the most educated people that think creatively. For all our downsides, for all our downsides, why does the rest of the world continue to beat a path to our door?

Because with all the downsides of our education, it is still the most -- you are trained to question authority. You are trained to question orthodoxy. In all these other countries, they are trained not to. That's why all these new inventions and issues are not being discovered in those countries producing all these engineers, producing all these scientists.

And the thing we have going for us more than any other country -- Steve Jobs, who just died, the one phrase he used I think is the most important thing to remember, he said, what is the secret to success and fundamental change and innovation? He says, think different. We are the only society in the world -- including our friends in England and France and other great countries who are allies -- that we teach our children: Think different. Think different. Challenge orthodoxy, challenge authority. (Applause.)

And, folks, your generation is the single most impressive generation in American history -- the 9/11 Generation -- 2,400,000 of your generation and your brothers and sisters up to 10 years older, 2,400,000 strapped on desert boots and put their feet on the soil, that scorching sand of Iraq, went to that God-awful moonscape. And it is an awful -- I have been in and out of these countries 23 times -- of Afghanistan -- four thousand -- almost six hundred and seventy fallen angels, 40,000 severely wounded. And they joined knowing -- knowing -- they were likely to be sent.

Your generation is engaged and volunteers more than the vaunted generation of mine, of the '60s. Your generation does more. Your generation is the single most informed generation in American history. And, folks, I promise what's going to happen, China and other competitors, they have awakened a sleeping giant, the United States. Mark my words -- I say this to the parents, within the next five years you're not going to hear the word outsourcing. The word is going to be insourcing.

I just met -- (applause) -- the President and I just met with the chairmen of the board of some of the largest companies in America -- DuPont, Siemens -- a whole range of these companies. They're bringing jobs back to the United States, because they figured out the total cost of doing business is more there. They don't have IP freedom in those cases. They pirate what we have. They don't have licensing. They don't have a court system that protects interest. So, folks, do what you can -- beg, borrow -- don't steal, but beg and borrow. (Laughter.) Figure out how to get to college even if you have to go out a year and earn some money. It's not fair. It may be necessary. But a college education is absolutely critical.

Last comment: 62 percent of all the jobs of the next decade are going to require a college education. Threshold requirement. Sixty-two percent. When I graduated 840 years ago in the '60s -- (laughter) -- got out of college in '68, what happened then was you could still if you were innovative, if you had a break, if you had some access, you still could get a good, decent-paying job and you didn't -- with a high school education. It's incredibly hard to do that now. It's getting close to impossible.

You have the talent. You have the ability, and there's about to be a big hook that's going to grab me by the neck and grab me off the stage. (Laughter.) I can't tell you how much I appreciate you waiting. I hope you'll invite me back. I hope you'll invite me back. (Applause.)

END 2:25 P.M. PST