Kind talks cleaning toilets at Harvard to pay for school

Congressman was at UW-L talking student debt

Making college students into big banks seems to be an idea floating around when talking student debt.

Congressman Ron Kind wants to see students get lower interest rates that banks can take advantage of.

Kind spoke at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse on Monday, just before a listening session about student debt and ways to make college affordable.

The La Crosse democrat got down and dirty in paying for his Harvard education.

“I think I still hold the undergraduate record for most toilets cleaned in four years, because it was the most disgusting job on campus, but it also paid the best with work study,” Kind said. “And it helped me make ends meet.

“I had to take out loans. I had to qualify for pell grants. I don’t want to be a member of congress, now, that pulls the ladder out from behind me.”

Kind is sponsoring an affordability plan, which would give students better access to job training and allow refinancing of student loans – an idea rejected by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.