New graduates have good reason to celebrate their academic achievements.  After all, on average, a college degree remains a good indicator for boosting one's lifetime earning potential.  For many Americans, a college education is a lasting investment in future economic mobility.

After the gilded glow of the cap and gown and the pomp and circumstance of the commencement ceremony fade into memory, reality sets in.  The soaring costs of higher education and growing student debt are climbing to unprecedented levels.

College debt creates a significant financial burden on many new graduates.  For those fortunate to land a job in the still struggling economy, many will discover how hard it is to stretch a paycheck to cover the bills.  Making ends meet - let alone trying to get ahead - is that much harder with more than $1 trillion in outstanding student loans in the United States.

The lion's share of four-year degree recipients borrows money to attend college.  The percentage has increased from 45 percent to about 66 percent in the last decade.  After these graduates rejoice in flipping their tassels to the other side of the mortarboard, they not only walk away with a diploma, but they also walk away with an average debt of $23,000.  That figure jumps to nearly $50,000 for less affluent students who choose to attend private colleges and receive less need-based financial aid.

So, what factors are causing the explosion in college tuition?  And, does the student's debt burden square with his or her earning potential post-graduation?

In the U.S. Senate, I've led efforts to make it easier for families to save for college.  In the landmark 2001 federal tax laws, I secured a provision to make tax-free savings plans for college a permanent part of the tax code.  Encouraging families to save for college rather than relying on student loans can help many future graduates get off to a stronger start after graduation.  As then-Chairman of the Senate tax-writing committee, I also helped secure the tax deduction for college tuition and the tax deductibility of interest on student loans.

Now, even the longstanding sky-high rate of medical spending in the United States is less than the exploding growth of college tuition and fees.  Public policy needs to find a better way to expose the true costs of paying for a higher education and educate consumers.  That's why I'm working to give American families better tools to make informed decisions when sending their students off to college.  More useful information is necessary to help students check the value and earning potential of various college degrees.  Not all degrees are created equal.  Congress should have a serious debate about helping members of the next generation find the best path for their own personal pursuit of happiness as productive members of society.  Those pathways ought to be as broad and diverse as the next generation, from military and public service to vocational training, college, and post-graduate degrees.

My efforts to address escalating tuition hikes and student debt include my crusade to shine a bright light on public and non-profit private colleges with well-funded endowments that park their assets in tax-preferred vehicles.  Hoarding exorbitant assets in tax-preferred "rainy day funds" ought to be redirected towards lowering tuition for students and their families.  Through my rigorous oversight of the tax-exempt sector, including universities, hospitals and media-based ministries, I'm working to make sure non-profits are holding up their end of the bargain for the public good.  Tax-exempt colleges bear a unique responsibility to leverage their tax-advantaged resources to educate the public.  That's why I spearhead efforts to bring greater transparency to college revenues and expenses.  The public has a right to know how tax-advantaged dollars at tax-exempt higher education institutions square with their mission.  My review of soaring growth at college endowment funds a few years ago prompted several prominent schools to offer more generous student aid assistance.  As public awareness builds, let's hope the trend continues.  Whereas attending college is not an entitlement, colleges that benefit from tax-advantaged vehicles and tax-exempt status do bear a social contract to make higher education more affordable and accessible to the public.

Congress can take steps aimed at reining in college costs.  In May, I joined bipartisan forces in the U.S. Senate to try to bring greater transparency to the true cost of college tuition and fees.  The bill we proposed would cut through the clutter of financial aid letters that families receive from prospective colleges.  Decoding these letters to understand what is actually given, borrowed and owed can be next to impossible.  By having a clear picture in standardized language what students' debt burden will be after graduation, families would have an apples-to-apples cost-comparison to make with other colleges.  This ought to help students avoid taking on excessive debt and become more discriminating shoppers.  That alone could help control the soaring costs of college.  Colleges are increasingly competing to one-up each other to attract students, either through apartment-style housing, gourmet food services or amazing amenities that other institutions cannot match.  Empowering students and their families with better information about the cost and worth of a degree would help spark a race among colleges to provide a high-quality education at a good price.

Diplomas tied down with overwhelming student debt make it harder for the next generation to scale the ladder of opportunity.

Q:        What is required of Congress in making a budget plan?

A:        The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 says Congress should annually adopt a budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year and at least the following four fiscal years.  The annual budget is to be adopted as a concurrent resolution, so it is not presented to the President for his signature and doesn't become law.  Rather, when adopted by Congress, the budget resolution is as an agreement between the House and Senate on a congressional budget plan.  It provides the budget framework for subsequent legislative action during each congressional session.

Q:        Is there an annual deadline?

A:        The congressional budget timetable sets April 15 as a target date for completing action on the annual budget resolution.  Before 1986, the date was May 15.  According to the Congressional Research Service, budget resolutions have been adopted, on average, almost 37 days after the target date.

Q:        How is it that the Senate hasn't passed a budget for more than three years?

A:        The Senate last adopted a budget resolution on April 29, 2009.  Since then, the majority leadership of the Senate has not produced even a proposal for consideration.  The only conclusion a person can draw is that the Democratic leadership either doesn't have a plan or doesn't want its fingerprints on one.

Q:        The President proposed a budget; why not just use that?

A:        The President's budget proposal has been unanimously rejected.  In April, the House of Representatives voted 414 to 0 against President Obama's budget.  In May, the Senate voted 99 to 0 against the President's budget.  President Obama's proposal would do little to change the nation's dangerously unsustainable debt path.  And, rather than reduce spending, President Obama proposed $2 trillion in tax increases to increase government spending above current levels.  The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the President's policies would lead to a fifth consecutive year of $1 trillion deficits, 2009 to 2013.  In addition, under the President's plan, after 10 years, the national debt would be 76.5 percent of America's gross domestic product.  The historical average since World War II is just 43 percent.

Q:        What are the repercussions of the Senate's not passing a budget?

A:        As President Obama has said, the annual budget is "an economic blueprint for this nation's future."  A budget blueprint would lay out priorities for deficit reduction, economic growth or a path to balance.  Today, along with having now gone more than three years without a budget, America is in the midst of the fourth consecutive year of trillion-dollar deficits.  Yet, there is no one in the Democratic leadership, which controls the U.S. Senate, willing to take charge, even while our nation continues on a path of deficits and debt.  Republican senators offered three alternative budgets for consideration this year, yet all were rejected by the Democratic majority.  The President has refused to get involved in a serious way to provide moral and political leadership.  Instead, a commitment to solutions is needed for today and future generations.

The Family Museum Offers a Place for Buyers and Sellers to Meet

Bettendorf – Closets filled with toys and games. Beds hiding sports equipment and puzzles. Kids acquire mountains of stuff through the years, and the Family Museum offers a perfect place to sell these under-used and forgotten items: the annual Young Entrepreneur's Market. This year the Market will be held on Saturday, June 9 from 8:30-11:30 AM. It's free to shop, but sellers must be pre-paid and pre-registered by Wednesday, June 6.

This event is designed to teach young entrepreneurs about sales, marketing, and merchandising. Participants are welcome to sell their artwork, crafts, toys, sports equipment, clothing, costumes, or any other gently used items at this popular "garage" sale. This is a great opportunity for kids to clean out their toy boxes, empty their closets, and sell the things they no longer play with or have outgrown. It's also a great venue for kids to sell crafts, artwork, and other handmade items.

The Young Entrepreneur's Market is open to all youth ages 5-14. Sellers must be accompanied by an adult. Each parking space is $10. Participants must be pre-registered by Wednesday, June 6 to attend. For more information or to reserve a space, call Julie Klein at (563) 344-4170.

As a father, you understand the incredible importance of keeping your family healthy, happy, lean and long-lived as easily and inexpensively as possible.   As the president of our country, you understand the importance of educating U.S. citizens about how to do the same.

My concern then is, as the most prominent role model in the land, why do you smoke cigarettes?  Why do you eat so many fatty foods, as physicians have publicly noted?  Why are there so many campaign tour photos of you eating unhealthy foods?  At the same time, your wife is campaigning to end childhood obesity.  Doesn't this send a mixed message to most everyone in America?  This at a time when America's disease, obesity and health insurance rates are skyrocketing, with no end in sight?

Why does America spend only 4% percent of its health-care budget on prevention and education yet over 75 percent on disease treatment? Is the goal to make Americans authentically healthy, or to make a few industries wealthier? These are questions my own children have asked me around the dinner table, so now I'm asking you Mr. President.

From all the research I just completed, I now know that Americans aren't getting fatter and sicker because they're lazy; they're getting fatter and sicker because of the steady stream of misinformation that is fed to them and that defies common sense. They're confused about the true biological causes of poor health and disease.  You can understand then why, to the American public, it almost appears that governmental health policies are designed to cultivate disease and illness, purely for profit, rather than to authentically protect the health of American citizens.

The signs are everywhere. A recent example is the fact that food manufacturers don't have to label GMO (genetically modified organisms) foods in America, when other countries do.  Why?  People certainly deserve to know what's in their food!  A country as a whole is only as strong as the health of its individuals.

As a concerned father, I wanted to ask you these questions. Because, when I give my children a kiss or a hug or tell them I love them each day, I want only the best for them.  As a father, I know you want the same for your own children.   And, every other parent in our country wants the same for their own children.  What does the future hold for our children if America doesn't change its ways right now and do what it needs to do to end its disease and obesity epidemics?

As a concerned American citizen, I know that you have the power to make America healthier, leaner, fitter and stronger.  You can also choose to do nothing and give into the various lobbying interests purely for their profit and political purposes, while the citizens of our country continue to get sicker, fatter and weaker, thereby making America even less competitive in the world.

The long and short of it is, Mr. President, the choice really is yours. You are the ultimate role model for America.  The buck starts and stops with you.

Whoever becomes the next President in the upcoming election, I wonder what the parents on their staff and throughout all the other influential government offices would wish for their own children's future: profit or health? Frankly, it really is easy to have both if America's health-care system were to be redesigned properly and if all Americans were taught to give their bodies what they need biologically in the first place to prevent disease and illness.  Providing everyone with health insurance is a noble proposition but it does nothing to prevent or end even a single disease state.

Wouldn't it be great to be remembered as the president who solved America's health and obesity problems, and made America the longest-lived country in the world with among the lowest healthcare costs?

The choice is yours.

About Gordon Filepas

Gordon Filepas spent 20 years researching Lean And Healthy To 100, (www.adviceformychildren.com), interviewing physicians, attending seminars, and reading medical journals and other health-related literature. He is the founder of TGM Partners, a consulting and investment firm. Filepas says he was motivated to learn more about the specific requirements for optimal health following the deaths of his father and brother from cancer within three years of each other. He hopes to ensure the good health of his family, including his wife of 25 years and three sons.