Elizabeth Warren has a lot to say about who's to blame for America's student debt problem
Pablo Martinez Monsivais /APSen. Elizabeth Warren called out both Democrats and Republicans about their college affordability policies in a speech she delivered at the headquarters of the American Federation of Teachers on Wednesday, according to Politico.
"It starts with courage - the courage of both Democrats and Republicans to admit how much is wrong and that the other side has a real point," Warren said.
She called out states for decreasing funding to higher education and Congress for dialing back resources it provides to colleges, even though the federal government profits on student debt, according to Politico. She also called on the Department of Education (ED) for allowing for-profit colleges to take advantage of students.
Warren's comments come after the ED announced on Monday that it would forgive much of the federal student debt of former students who had attended the now-bankrupt for-profit Corinthian Colleges.
This was an attempt by the ED to rectify the history of abuses and alleged worthless degrees students received after attending Corinthian, and paying in the tens of thousands of dollars to do so.
Defrauded students and student advocacy groups say that much of the abuses of Corinthian, and other for-profit colleges, should have been prevented by the ED in the first place.
In her speech, Warren suggested moving the student complaint system from the ED to the agency she helped establish - the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Boston Globe reported.
Warren's point about state budget cuts also echoed a recent news event. In April, Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based LSU university drafted a bankruptcy plan because the most recently proposed budgetary cuts by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal threatened to severely impact the higher-education system in the state.