While more than half of federal lawmakers are millionaires and their combined median net worth shot up 6.7 percent between 2013 and 2014, there’s at least one way in which many members of Congress can understand the plight of millions of Americans: They owe tens of thousands of dollars in student loans.
With the astronomical cost of a college education taking an increasingly prominent role in the 2016 presidential campaign, 53 lawmakers – about 10 percent of Congress, including nonvoting members of the House – know firsthand about the lingering debts that can follow a few years of study: That’s how many either owed student loans themselves or had family members who did at the start of this year, according to the latest data available.
Only three were senators, who are usually wealthier than House members. More than half, 31, were Republicans. Together, their student loan debt totaled between $1.6 million and $4.1 million, which contributed to a record national student loan debt of $1.2 trillion in 2014.
On average, individual members with lingering student debt owed between $30,567 and $77,925 (lawmakers report their assets, liabilities and transactions in ranges). That’s more than the $29,000 average owed by the 40 million Americans who had at least one student loan left to pay.
Nine members had more than one loan to pay off, which brought Congress’ total loan count to 67. The average American still in hock for educational expenses had about four such outstanding loans in 2014.
It was the second year in a row that the number of lawmakers with student loan debt increased, though the combined amount they owed fell a bit. In 2013, a total of 47 members collectively owed between $1.8 million and $4.6 million. The previous year, 41 members reported having student loan debt.
In their personal financial disclosure statements covering 2014, a total of 11 members specified that the loans belonged to a spouse. Fourteen indicated that they were for children.
Rich and poor alike
The three senators on the list included Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), a freshman who defeated Democratic incumbent Mark Udall last year. Gardner, who attended Colorado State University and the University of Colorado Law School, reported owing between $15,001 and $50,000.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), elected in 2010, owed between $10,000 and $15,000 to the Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority. Lee earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from Brigham Young University. Junior Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and his wife each owed between $15,001 and $50,000 to Sallie Mae.
Murphy graduated from Williams College and the University of Connecticut School of Law. All three senators had outstanding student loans in 2013 as well.
Three lawmakers – Reps. John Carter (R-Texas), Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) and Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) – owed between $100,001 and $250,000. The previous year, those three members as well as Reps. James Bridenstine (R-Okla.), Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) and John Conyers (D-Mich.) carried student loan debt in the same range, but the latter three have since dropped from that top tier.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) had four outstanding student loans, more than any other member of Congress. He owed three to Nelnet and another to Navient. Together, he was between $55,003 and $165,000 in the hole.
The top 20 student loan debtors
Show entries
Search:
Name Minimum Value Maximum Value Type Lender
Rep. John Carter (R-Texas) $100,001 $250,000 Student loans Sallie Mae
Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) $100,001 $250,000 Student loan (Spouse) Sallie Mae
Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) $100,001 $250,000 Student loan American Education Services
Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.) $80,003 $200,000 Student loans (Spouse and Filer) Sallie Mae, U.S. Department of Education
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) $55,003 $165,000 Student loans Navient, Nelnet
Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) $45,003 $150,000 Parent PLUS Loans (Spouse) American Education Services
Rep. Pedro Pierluisi (D-Puerto Rico) $60,001 $115,000 Student loans Navient, U.S. Department of Education
Rep. James Bridenstine (R-Okla.) $50,001 $100,000 Loan for Cornell University MBA U.S. Department of Education
Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) $50,001 $100,000 Student loans (Joint) Sallie Mae
Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) $50,001 $100,000 Student loan Student Loan Corp
Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Texas) $50,001 $100,000 Student loans for children (Joint) AES Corp
Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) $50,001 $100,000 Student loans (Dependent child) Sallie Mae
Rep. Trent Kelly (R-Miss.) $50,001 $100,000 Student loan Navient
Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) $50,001 $100,000 Parent PLUS Loans (Joint) U.S. Department of Education
Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands) $50,001 $100,000 Graduate student loan American Education Services, U.S. Department of Education
Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) $50,001 $100,000 Student loans GLC Student Loans
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) $50,001 $100,000 Student loans EdFinancial
Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) $40,002 $115,000 Student loans (Spouse) Sallie Mae, Aspire Resources, Harvard University
Rep. Frank Guinta (R-N.H.) $30,002 $100,000 Student loans (Spouse and filer) Navient, New Hampshire Higher Education Assistance Foundation
Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.) $30,002 $100,000 Educational loans (Spouse and filer) Sallie Mae
The student loan debtors ranged from some of the richest members of the House, like Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.), whose average net worth was about $43 million last year, to some of the poorest, like Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), whose average net worth was negative $2.2 million.
In 2012, Bank of America filed a petition to sue Cleaver, his wife and their company for over $1.5 million, claiming they failed to pay off a loan for a car wash.
Cleaver, the third-poorest member of the House, has between $10,000 and $15,000 to pay on his niece’s Fannie Mae loan, for which he was a co-signatory.
“I think the federal government is operating an obscene program because the government is making billions of dollars off of needy college and university students, and I just think there is something pathetically wrong with that,” Cleaver told OpenSecrets Blog. “Having said that, there are not a lot of options out there,” Cleaver said. “To me, and to many others, it is one of the most significant domestic issues that we face.”
Cleaver said he himself attended college on a football scholarship. His three sons benefited from basketball scholarships, and an academic scholarship covered half of his daughter’s college education. He’s now helping one of his sons pay off a loan to attend graduate school.
As for Kennedy, his wife, Lauren Birchfield, whom he met at Harvard Law School, had three outstanding student loans – two for between $15,001 and $50,000 apiece, and a third for between $10,000 and $15,000. Kennedy ranks No. 16 in terms of wealth among all House members.
Twelve of the 21 members of Congress who reported more liabilities than assets in 2014 had outstanding student loans. In addition to Cleaver, there was Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), whose average net worth came to negative $61,500 last year courtesy of new credit card debt and an unspecified loan – good for the biggest drop in net worth in Congress from 2013 to 2014. He reported that he owed between $15,001 and $50,000 for loans to attend law school. Castro went to Harvard Law School with his twin brother, Julián, the former mayor of San Antonio and current secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
College affordability and 2016
Among the 2016 Republican and Democratic presidential candidates, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley reported that he and his wife had outstanding loans in 2009, 2010 and 2012 – together worth between $300,004 and $700,000. Aides told the Washington Post this summer that the figure was $339,200 and the loans helped pay for O’Malley’s two oldest children, Grace and Tara, to attend college.
As the issue has surfaced along the 2016 presidential campaign trail, candidates have pitched ideas ranging from Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) proposal to partner students with investors who later get repaid by taking a percentage of the borrower’s earnings to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) plan to abolish tuition at public institutions.
Former Secretary of State and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton has suggested eliminating student loan debt by allowing students to attend community college tuition-free, giving billions of dollars in grants to states and creating incentives for public institutions to rein in tuition.
As president, Barack Obama has proposed limiting debt payments to 10 percent of a person’s income (that rule is in the process of being finalized), forgiving outstanding loans after 20 years and revamping federal funding to focus more on college affordability programs. His administration also stopped providing subsidies to private lenders.
Senior researcher Dan Auble contributed to this post.