Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Richard Cordray, 6/5/12
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
2:35 P.M. EDT
MR. CARNEY: We apologize for the delay, but we are glad that you’re here and welcome you as ever to the briefing room for your daily briefing.
As I think was advertised, I have with me Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on my right, and to my left, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Rich Cordray. They're here to talk to you about student loans and college costs. They participated in a roundtable just earlier this afternoon that was led by the Vice President with a number of presidents of colleges and universities to discuss ways to provide students with more transparency about college costs to help them make very important financial decisions.
So what I’d like to do is first turn it over to Secretary Duncan and then Director Cordray. They’ll talk to you about these issues, this bucket of issues. If you could direct questions to them on their issues at the top, after which we’ll let them leave, and I’ll be here to take your questions on other subjects.
And with that I give you the Secretary of Education.
SECRETARY DUNCAN: Thanks so much, Jay. And thanks, all of you guys, for giving us the opportunity.
As all of you know, post-secondary education is the ticket to economic success in America. But while it’s never been more important to have a degree or certificate, unfortunately it’s also never been more expensive. The Obama administration is working every single day to do our part to keep college affordable by helping students better manage their debt after graduation.
We’ve also proposed to extend and make permanent the American Opportunity Tax Credit and to create new incentives for states and institutions to keep college costs from escalating and to increase those completion rates.
And we’re also working to provide parents of students with the information they need to make smart educational
2:35 P.M. EDT
MR. CARNEY: We apologize for the delay, but we are glad that you’re here and welcome you as ever to the briefing room for your daily briefing.
As I think was advertised, I have with me Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on my right, and to my left, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Rich Cordray. They're here to talk to you about student loans and college costs. They participated in a roundtable just earlier this afternoon that was led by the Vice President with a number of presidents of colleges and universities to discuss ways to provide students with more transparency about college costs to help them make very important financial decisions.
So what I’d like to do is first turn it over to Secretary Duncan and then Director Cordray. They’ll talk to you about these issues, this bucket of issues. If you could direct questions to them on their issues at the top, after which we’ll let them leave, and I’ll be here to take your questions on other subjects.
And with that I give you the Secretary of Education.
SECRETARY DUNCAN: Thanks so much, Jay. And thanks, all of you guys, for giving us the opportunity.
As all of you know, post-secondary education is the ticket to economic success in America. But while it’s never been more important to have a degree or certificate, unfortunately it’s also never been more expensive. The Obama administration is working every single day to do our part to keep college affordable by helping students better manage their debt after graduation.
We’ve also proposed to extend and make permanent the American Opportunity Tax Credit and to create new incentives for states and institutions to keep college costs from escalating and to increase those completion rates.
And we’re also working to provide parents of students with the information they need to make smart educational