Republican Bill To Hold Universities Accountable for Student Loan Debt Makes Progress
Jose Nino
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Legislation that aims to overhaul university education and compel institutions to assume partial responsibility for student loan debt has made considerable progress in the United States House.
On January 31, 2024, the House Committee on Education & the Workforce voted for the College Cost Reduction Act and is currently scheduled for a vote in the full US House.
“As a society, it is time to face the music. We are scamming young Americans. College prices are skyrocketing, and college value is stagnating,” declared North Carolina Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, chair of the committee, in her opening statements.
Foxx highlighted that her legislation’s “three-pronged solution” consists of holding colleges “responsible for debt held by graduates who didn’t get enough value from their degree to pay down student loans.”
Basically, universities would be held accountable for student loans that have not been paid, with the bill being labeled as a “risk-sharing proposal.”
Further, Foxx stated it will boost transparency on top of directing federal aid to colleges and universities “with the best track record of increasing graduate earnings.”
The bill aims to standardize offer letters for financial aid and establish limits on student loans for specific degree programs. Repayment plans for student loans would either be predicated on income or be based on a standard 10-year plan, per a report by Insider Higher Ed.
“The 223-page College Cost Reduction Act passed on a party-line vote after a more than four-hour markup Wednesday that included more than 30 proposed amendments from Democrats on the committee—all of which were voted down by the majority Republicans,” IHE stated.
The Education and Workforce Committee fact sheet noted that the College Cost Reduction Act “promotes economic mobility” and “prevents colleges from endlessly raising tuition.”
“The College Cost Reduction Act will likely save taxpayers $1.9 billion per year by redistributing federal resources between institutions,” declared scholar Preston Cooper in a post published for the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity.
Student debt currently tops $1.7 trillion, per Federal Reserve data. This is one of the biggest issues of our time. Such legislation is a pragmatic step towards addressing the country’s growing student debt program.
Ultimately, there needs to be a through purge of the university system of leftist influence in addition to the creation of a parallel, competing education system, for the education system to be straightened out.
Truth be told, the US’s current economic model is outdated.
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