Education

Senator Alexander’s Missed Opportunity To Improve Higher Education


Today on the floor of the Senate, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) announced a package of ideas to reform the Higher Education Act (HEA). Alexander pitched this proposal when he objected to passing the FUTURE Act—funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). Senator Alexander says he is opposed to the FUTURE Act because it is a short-term bill “funded by a budget gimmick.” Instead he has proposed to provide permanent funding to those institutions, but with his package of bills.

Since announcing his retirement after the end of this term, experts have anticipated the Senator—a former university president, Secretary of Education, and now Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee—would want a comprehensive reboot to the higher education law as his final legislative legacy. The Chairman is known for making bipartisan deals with Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), including reforming the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as recently as 2015. The two had been negotiating on a comprehensive bill and she opposed this package on the floor.

The proposals from Alexander have varying levels of bipartisan support. Some would be big improvements for higher education, others could put students and taxpayers at risk. The bill is paid for by eliminating the 10-year standard repayment cap on income-based repayment—a limit on the amount a borrower pays when their income increases. But let’s break the rest down.

The Good

·        FAFSA Simplification—Chairman Alexander has long been a proponent of simplifying the Federal Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the application that determines how much financial aid a student receives. Completing this application can be overly burdensome and complicated for students, especially those who need the financial aid the most. Alexander would simplify the application so that students aren’t overburdened and can get their much needed financial aid. He says he would reduce the number of questions from 108 to between 17 and 30. Alexander would also allow data-sharing with the IRS to help answer some questions for students.

·        Financial Aid Offer Reform—When students apply to college, understanding their college costs is critical to their decision-making. But as research has shown, colleges and universities provide incomplete, confusing, and sometimes downright misleading information when presenting students with their financial aid offer. Senator Alexander correctly recognizes this problem and pointed to the Understanding the True Cost of College Act, a bipartisan, bicameral piece of legislation, for his package. This bill ensures standardization of financial aid offers with consistent use of terms and definitions so students can make apples-to-apples comparisons and better understand the scholarships, grants, and—most importantly—loans they will need to attend college.

·        Pell Grants for Incarcerated People—In 1994, Congress banned incarcerated Americans from receiving Pell Grants as a part of the sweeping crime bill. When the incarcerated are released, they have a hard time finding employment. Access to Pell Grants could help them gain much needed education and has been proved to reduce recidivism rates and find jobs. Congress should ensure these people have a second chance and overturn this ban. However, any proposal to do so should limit Pell access to high-quality programs and institutions to ensure students get the education and skills they need and taxpayer dollars aren’t wasted on predatory, low-quality programs.

The Bad

·        Meager Increase in Pell Grants—Of course, any increase in the Pell Grant Program is a good thing, but Alexander increases the maximum grant by a mere $20. Such a tiny increase doesn’t even get close to covering the average increase in tuition and fees we have seen across the country, even at the cheapest of schools. Over the years, the purchasing power of a Pell Grant has dramatically decreased, making it harder for low- and moderate-income students to afford a college education. This is one reason a comprehensive reauthorization is a better approach so Congress can make a meaningful investment in Pell and truly address the rising cost of college through a federal-state partnership.

·        Pell Grants for Extremely Short Programs—Alexander also proposed extending Pell Grants to extremely short-term programs—as short as eight weeks. Programs as short as 15 weeks can already qualify for Pell Grants. While these proposals have bipartisan support in Congress and are well-intended, research shows that these programs might actually hurt students, particularly women and people of color. The evidence is clear that longer-term programs offer a higher, long-term economic benefit. Of the nearly 6,000 certificate programs already eligible for federal aid, two-thirds of them left the average graduate not out-earning a high school graduate. Sponsors of the bills extending eligibility to very short programs say only high-quality programs would be eligible but there’s already a quality crisis in higher education and there are few real protections in the bill. This is especially true in the for-profit sector, which Alexander would allow to participate. Low-income students who qualify for the Pell Grant can greatly benefit from a college degree. Extending Pell to these extremely short programs runs the risk of low-quality and predatory programs falsely promising a quick payoff, essentially tracking low-income students into bad programs leaving them worse off because they have used up their time and Pell eligibility and have little to show for it. Congress should ensure students are enrolling in programs that help them find a job paying family-sustaining wages.

Missed Opportunity

Senator Alexander mentioned three additional pieces of legislation to consider, though he missed the opportunity to include them in his bill. The first was the College Transparency Act. In the 2008 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, Congress put a ban in place on student-level data. That has left us with grossly inadequate federal higher education data making it difficult to understand how well schools are serving students. We know too little about graduation outcomes, program-level earnings of graduates, how schools serve different demographics, and more. The bipartisan, bicameral College Transparency Act removes that ban—an incredibly important step towards giving students, families, and taxpayers the best information to understand student outcomes at schools. Any higher education package should include this legislation. The final two pieces mentioned are the Education of the Deaf Act—reauthorizing Gallaudet University—and the Educational Opportunity and Success Act—which supports low-income students through the TRIO program.

The biggest missed opportunity of his package is that it isn’t a comprehensive reauthorization that reforms all of higher education. The last time Congress reauthorized the Higher Education Act was in 2008. (I was a freshman in college.) A lot has happened since then. The Great Recession spiked enrollment in both undergraduate degree programs and graduate school. Tuition has increased as state support has dwindled. And for-profit schools have defrauded students and left them buried with debt. Students and taxpayers need a reform package for higher education that accounts for these changes and addresses the real issues. Affordability must be addressed to ensure students have access to a college education. Accountability has to be included so that the education leads to a quality degree and students can find a good paying job. Congress shouldn’t take the low-hanging fruit and should instead pass the FUTURE Act and then negotiate a bill that tackles the hard issues. Senator Alexander should take this opportunity to make his mark on higher education and make sure a college education is one that pays off for students, families, and taxpayers.



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