Hillary Clinton Campaign Press Release - Why Hillary Clinton Campaigned in a Bowling Alley

There's a story behind this unusual campaign stop.

Three days after announcing she was running for president, Hillary Clinton met a young man named Bryce Smith who owns a bowling alley in Adel, Iowa.

He told her a story that stuck with her:

The bowling alley has been a community gathering place in Adel since 1957. Bryce worked there part time for years before he had the opportunity to purchase it as a fresh college graduate of the University of Northern Iowa. And although Bryce is thrilled to be a new small-business owner—doing something he loves—he also has nearly $40,000 of student debt to repay. In fact, his student loans are his biggest business expense.

BRYCE: New college graduates, they may not want to go to big corporations for 10, 15, 20 years before they start their business. A lot of us have ... fresh ideas that we want to do now, and we have the motivation, too. ... So that's my biggest thing, is the barrier of entry and financing.

HILLARY: This is a really important point. We all know about the student loan debt, but I've never heard anyone so persuasively link it to the slowdown in business startups. ... we've got to tackle this student debt problem. ... You've given me an insight that nobody else has.

As promised, Hillary came to Bryce's bowling alley in Adel to talk about what we can do to help young people achieve their dreams—and that includes making college more affordable and helping people pay off their student loan debt.

"Bryce's story is so touching," Hillary said. "This is the community where he grew up, this is where he worked as a young man, high school and college, and he cared so much about what this business provided to Adel. ... He was describing his dream of someday owning it and then getting his chance to try to do that and what he wanted to build because of it. That is the American Dream."

"That's the basic bargain of America: You work hard, you do your part, you can get ahead and stay ahead. But we're making it awfully hard today—and particularly for young people—because what's happened is, so many young people are ... not getting on those first rungs of the opportunity ladder, and it's made doubly hard if they are burdened by student debt."

Hillary will fight to make sure every young person has the chance to follow his or her dreams. Learn more about Hillary's plan to make college affordable.