dr. vedder. >> thank you, senator murray and senator johnson and other members of the budget committee. i wish to make three points. first, the current student loan debt crisis would have never happened had college costs increased at the generate of inflation. the primary cause of the student debt problem is increased university fees. you must deal with the root cause of this, namely runaway college costs inflation. second, there are many reasons for this university price inflation, several i mentioned in my written statement, but one that is relevant here is that rising tuition fees are partially caused by federal student financial assistance programs themselves. the programs themselves are part of the problem. any significant, successful solution to the problem of rising college costs will work only if you radically change the nature and magnitude of federal finance. third, we are at or near a tipping point where fundamental change will come to higher education. these changes are starting to happen. i believe many policy proposals gaining prominence these days do not fundamentally add