With student loan debt sitting at more than $1 trillion, our nation faces a plague that can harm America's homeland security, economic growth and relative competitive position in the world.

Barron's magazine ran a recent cover story about this ticking time-bomb of student loan debt. Over the last 20 years, the rate of tuition is up 300%. That's four times the rate of inflation. When I went to college at American University many years ago, my tuition was so high that it was obscene. I paid $2,400 each year for tuition and that was just absurd in my day and age.

Fast forward to today and the ease of student loan availability means there's no pressure for colleges to control their costs.

We've got to break that cycle for our nation. We need to impose caps on how much people can borrow. In the absence of lawful caps, you need common sense to limit how much student loan borrowing takes place in your household.

If that means a different college for your son or daughter, so be it. If it means community college, so be it too. We have to attack this before it gets too much more out of hand.