Politics

Senator Warren speaks out on student loan debt, talks her salary at Harvard

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) -- Alongside former Boston Mayor Tom Menino, Senator Elizabeth Warren walked into a room full of Boston University students on Monday, and spoke about what's become a popular and key issue for her: Student loan debt.

"You didn't go to the mall and run up a lot of charges on your credit card," Warren told the group.  "The government will make huge profits off the backs of people trying to get an education."

She blasted the government for making money off loans, wants bankruptcy protections to be reinstated on student loans and is calling for refinancing student loans to "ring some of the profits out of the system."

The rising cost of college and crushing student debt struck a chord during the election that propelled Warren to the US Senate.

Another issue students are finding themselves confronted with: Do they bypass quality schools simply because of the price tag?

"Parents and students are looking hard at the cost of college everywhere, and they're right to do so.  I think the main thing for every student out there is to find the school that fits and fit partly means they have the right educational program, it's the right distance from home, but it also means it's going to be affordable," Warren said.

FOX 25 asked Senator Warren about the salary she drew as a former Harvard law professor. From 2010 to 2011, she made nearly $430,000.  When FOX 25 political reporter Sharman Sacchetti asked Warren about whether salaries like that contribute to the cost of college, Senator Warren deflected.

Q: You brought up ideas about reducing the cost of college.  Are professors who command high salaries, are they included in that?

A: You know, I think that the problem that we're talking about here is a failure to support our public institutions.

We pressed her about high priced professors, and if that, too, is part of the problem.

Q: Is that legitimate place to look though, is that one other place?  
A: You know I think the point is on the public universities, we've got to have adequate support for those universities. For the private schools, they have endowments, they have tuition money and they are using those endowments and tuition money in ways they think would best benefit the schools.
 
Senator Warren told FOX 25 that public universities are not receiving nearly the same amount of taxpayer funding they once did. She believes that should change.

She also has been pushing a "uniform statement" so families are better able to figure out the true cost of college.

Some of senator warren's figures have been the subject of some controversy, as some experts call into question her interpretation of the numbers and her claim about government profits.

We asked her about that today, and she told us the numbers she uses are the federal government's own numbers.