As the engine of opportunity, education should be available to everyone. But right now, Minnesota has some of the nation’s worst graduation rates for students of color. We need to make sure education is affordable and accessible to everyone. And we need to recognize that not everyone wants or needs to go to college, so we need to make sure we are investing in career training opportunities, as well as technical training.
Partnerships between education and local businesses help make sure opportunities are available and there is proper training for skills needed for high-demand jobs. Tina helped write a new law that invests in these key partnerships, and also helped introduce the Community College to Career Fund Act, which fosters partnerships between technical and community colleges and small businesses to prepare Minnesotans for careers in manufacturing, health care, energy, and IT.
Tina believes we’ve also got to make sure that people pursuing four-year degrees don’t graduate with piles of debt. Tina co-sponsored a bill with Senator Elizabeth Warren to help millions of Americans refinance their student debt and also co-sponsors bipartisan legislation that makes sure students know the true cost of their education before they take out a loan. She also successfully fought alongside Senator Dick Durbin for funding to increase access to free online textbooks and reduce students’ burden of the costs of textbooks.