[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 36 (Monday, March 2, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S2648]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            HIGHER EDUCATION

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, during the 1960s, American Motors 
Corporation president George Romney warned Detroit's automakers, 
``There is nothing more vulnerable than entrenched success.''
  The big three paid no attention. They were building the best cars in 
the world--highly profitable gas-guzzling vehicles we were quick to 
buy. Meanwhile, their future Japanese competitors were perfecting 
smaller, fuel-efficient cars. And today we are bailing out the Detroit 
companies that did not listen.
  American higher education would do well to heed the warning that 
George Romney gave the Detroit automakers in the 1960s. We have the 
best colleges in the world today, just as we had the best cars in the 
world then. But even brisk competition at home seems to have little 
effect on rising tuition costs.
  To deal with rising college costs, I suggest, No. 1, colleges offer 
some well-prepared students the option of a 3-year baccalaureate 
degree, cutting one-third the time and one-fourth the cost from a 
college education; and No. 2, make community college free for well-
prepared students.
  This seems impossible when State community college funding is tight. 
In my State, Vanderbilt's endowment has declined 16.5 percent and 
Maryville College is under a hiring freeze. The University of Tennessee 
is trying to decide what positions to cut. Impossible, that is, unless 
college administrators are listening to students, States, and Members 
of Congress who are up in arms about rising tuition.
  What I hear in Congress is: Every time we increase Pell grants, 
colleges raise tuition. In their exasperation, Members of Congress then 
piled new rules on already overregulated colleges. The former president 
of Stanford University estimates complying with these regulations--
which today fill a stack of boxes 6 feet tall, which I have previously 
brought onto the Senate floor--adds 7 cents to every dollar cost of 
tuition. Last year, I even voted against the new higher education bill 
because it doubles those regulations.
  The greatest threat to the quality of higher education, in my 
opinion, is not underfunding, it is overregulation. But to persuade 
other Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives to stop 
adding these stacks of regulations, colleges are first going to have to 
show that they know how to lower college costs.
  Just as a plug-in hybrid car is not for every driver, a 3-year 
college degree is not for every student. But some well-qualified 
students may want to complete their work in 3 years--many today take 5 
or 6 years--and in doing so save time and save money. This will require 
adjusting attitudes, faculty workloads, and using some campus 
facilities year round.
  Five upper East Tennessee counties already are offering free tuition 
to qualified local students at Northeast State Community College. 
Federal Pell grants and the State HOPE Scholarship pay most of the 
$1,300 semester tuition. The five counties and private companies pay 
the rest. Sullivan County's bill last year was only $80,000 for its 
share.
  These are very difficult times. We all know that here. But during the 
1980s, when I was Governor of Tennessee, unemployment reached 11 
percent, inflation reached 14 percent, and interest rates reached 20 
percent. We were struggling then. Then the economy surged, as we hope 
it will soon again. Tennessee's higher education funding growth led the 
Nation for 3 consecutive years. This is more likely to happen again if 
higher education offers a 3-year college degree option and free 
community college tuition. That will help regain the support of 
legislators and families who are upset about colleges that seem able 
only to increase tuition every time legislators increase funding.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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