Youth is a wonderful thing, but those of us who sometimes look back wistfully upon early adulthood have at least one reason to be glad that we’re a bit further along in our life’s journey.

Consider the dilemma for today’s high school graduates. Twenty or 30 years ago, a bachelor’s degree was a relatively affordable commodity, especially at public colleges and universities. And for anyone with the degree in hand, the job market was strong.

Things have changed. Since 1985, tuition and fees at U.S. colleges and universities have risen an average of 498 percent — nearly five times the rate of inflation. Meanwhile, the federal Pell Grants that make college possible for the nation’s poorest young people haven’t come close to keeping up. For next year’s freshman, the maximum grant of $5,645 will cover just one-third of the the average costs. The GOP’s latest budget proposal by Rep. Paul Ryan would hit Pell Grants even harder, cutting $170 billion from the program over the next decade, with one million students losing their grant entirely.

And here’s the kicker: According to the latest numbers from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for 2010 college graduates is 9.1 percent — an all-time high.

So, is a college education still worth the investment?

We think so, but if we’re not approaching a tipping point in that equation, we certainly can see it from where we’re standing, especially in Minnesota. We’re accustomed to seeing ourselves at or near the top of educational rankings, but here are a couple that shouldn’t be points of pride:

• In a state-by-state ranking of college graduates’ student loan debt, Minnesota’s class of 2010 ranked fourth. Students who borrowed money to our attend public or not-for-profit schools began the next chapter of their lives with a $29,058 burden on their backs.

• 71 percent of Minnesota undergraduates are borrowing money to attend college — a rate that’s exceeded only in Iowa, Maine and New Hampshire.

During the past several years, we’ve often editorialized about the need for high school students to be informed about their post-secondary educational options. Not every high school graduate is ready to pursue a bachelor’s degree, and there are good jobs available to people who receive the proper training at trade schools or technical programs.

But students who have the ability and the desire to pursue a college degree shouldn’t have to mortgage their futures to obtain it. Some level of student loan debt is acceptable, but when well-employed college graduates are paying off that debt in their mid-40s, something needs to change.

Unfortunately, the change that’s coming might be for the worse. Federal legislation that in 2007 capped the interest rate on federal student loans at 3.4 percent is about to expire, which means the rate could double, to 6.8 percent. Sen. Al Franken is co-sponsoring a bill to extend the rate cut, but it faces opposition from Republicans who say it’s costing the government nearly $6 billion per year.

In a country that recently spent hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out the auto industry and keep Wall Street from imploding, we’re dumbfounded at the notion that we’d now choose to dump more debt onto the shoulders of our best and brightest young people.

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The United States does not have to choose between the vitality of its medical device industry or the health of its people, U.S. Sen. Al Franken said in an interview at the Design of Medical Devices Conference hosted by the University of Minnesota. It is possible to improve both.

By bringing regulators and manufacturers together to communicate and find common ground, he said, they can find a way to get life-saving devices to market faster while not compromising patient safety. “To some degree, there is a false choice there,” said Franken, who is a member of the Senate Health Committee.

While acknowledging that the range of issues involved are “pretty complex stuff,” Franken pointed to his efforts to bring Jeffrey Shuren, director of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, to Minnesota to meet with leaders of the medical device industry.

Those meetings subsequently led to an agreement between the FDA and the industry to develop a Regulatory Sciences Partnership that will be centered in Minnesota. The idea is to help two very different cultures – regulatory and manufacturing – find common ground to improve the system while enhancing safety.

“These people better start talking to each other,” Franken said of any hoped-for improvements in the American device-approval system. “I want to be a bridge there.”

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It’s incredible to think that, in the year 2012, we still live in a country where women get paid less than men for the same work.

Candidates often send out fundraising solicitations from their family, prominent political figures or regular citizens who are just so excited about the campaign that they need to help out. But on Friday, Sen. Al Franken’s (D-Minn.) campaign tried someone new: Woman Picking Out Fruit In Supermarket, who is co-chair of People in Stock Photos for Franken (PSPF).

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The National Guard says nearly 3,000 soldiers are scheduled to return to Minnesota, over the next 3 weeks.

Nearly one year ago, hundreds of families from across southeast Minnesota said goodbye to their soldiers, at a sendoff ceremony in Rochester in May, 2011.

“You are second to none and you make the state proud, you make the state proud,” said Minnesota Senator Al Franken, during that ceremony.
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Franken, a Democrat, touted his Local Courthouse Safety Act, which has bipartisan support and would allow local courts to use excess federal security equipment such as metal detectors, wands and baggage screening machines.
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U.S. Sen. Al Franken on Tuesday applauded Minnesota for its efforts to help returning troops reintegrate back into a normal society, such as the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon campaign, but knows there is plenty more states should be doing to help ease the transition.
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In an effort to call attention to the increasing demand for food shelf assistance in Washington County, U.S. Senator Al Franken toured the Valley Outreach Center during his visit to Stillwater Saturday, March 24. The senator met with employees and volunteers and also pitched in to help stock shelves with food items.
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April is “Military Child and National Poetry Month” and Al Franken is celebrating it with a contest.

According to a press release, Franken is hosting a poetry contest with the theme “My experiences as a Military Child.” He invites all children of military families across Minnesota to enter..
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Dozens of people—including U.S. Sen. Al Franken and Woodbury Mayor Mary Giuliani Stephens—came out Saturday for the dedication of Habitat for Humanity’s 900th home in the Twin Cities.

The new homes have been built at the Garden Gate development of Woodbury, along Settlers Ridge Parkway south of Hudson Road.
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