If you’re a student in America, you should have the opportunity to attend a public college or university and graduate without debt.

In the last 30 years, the cost of college has risen an astonishing 250%, leaving Americans with more than $1.3 trillion in student loan debt and putting the American Dream out of reach for many graduates. Today, the average college graduate will start their adult life $30,000 in debt.  Just as the GI Bill had a 7-to-1 return on investment for America’s economy, federal investment to states and students in order to achieve debt-free college will be a similar investment in our economic future.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has worked tirelessly to make debt-free college a reality. Through its lobbying arm, The P Street Project, PCCC led an effort to build congressional support for both a House and Senate resolution calling for access to debt-free college. Bloomberg News reported that “[the] phrase debt-free college was hardly present in the national political lexicon until the Progressive Change Campaign Committee launched a campaign in January to push Democrats to support the idea.” By 2016, over 100 members supported the resolutions, giving Hillary Clinton the political space to make it an integral part of her campaign. It even became a part of the Democratic Party Platform, with candidates at the state and local level campaigning on the issue.

Debt-free college has become a core issue in the Democratic Party, and PCCC will continue to fight until all students can attend a public college or university and graduate debt-free.