[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 143 (Thursday, November 20, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S6207]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
By Mr. HARKIN:
S. 2954. A bill to improve the Higher Education Act of 1965, and for
other purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions.
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I am proud to introduce my comprehensive
proposal to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, the main law
governing institutions of higher education in this country. My bill,
the Higher Education Affordability Act, is the product of extensive
conversations between both parties in Congress and stakeholders across
the higher education community. Over the past year, our Senate Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee has held 12 bipartisan
hearings on reauthorizing the Higher Education Act on issues ranging
from teacher preparation and accreditation to federal student loans and
the States' role in higher education. These hearings were purposely
designed to better inform members of Congress and the public on the
most pressing issues in higher education and how best to address them
at the federal level.
In June, I put forward a discussion draft that included many of the
ideas and policies discussed in our hearings. I asked the entire higher
education community--including institutions, accreditors, and student
advocacy organizations--to weigh in and offer suggestions on how best
to strengthen my initial proposal.
I am pleased to say they delivered abundantly on that request. We
received comments from over 120 organizations from across the country.
What I have put forward today is a direct result of our hearings and
the feedback we received. This bill provides clear guidelines based on
all the work we have done to date on how we should move forward with
reauthorization in a way that puts students and families first. It
takes a holistic approach in addressing the most urgent issues in
higher education: increasing college affordability, helping struggling
borrowers, strengthening accountability, and improving transparency
throughout the higher education system.
On the matter of affordability, my bill includes a number of policies
designed to reduce college costs for students on the front end. It
proposes a new federal partnership with States to incentivize them to
reinvest in their systems of higher education. For too long, States
have been cutting funding for their institutions of higher education
and passing those costs onto students and their families. This is a
trend in cost-shifting that must stop. The bill also reinstates year-
round Pell Grants to enable students to get their degrees faster and
establishes a pilot program to reward institutions that do a good job
of graduating low-income students. My bill also creates two grant
programs to promote statewide and institutional innovation in higher
education. Making sure college is affordable requires an all-hands-on-
deck approach: the Federal government, states, students and their
families all need to do their part.
We also hope to empower students and families through greater
transparency by giving students and families better information on
college costs and outcomes from the beginning of the college selection
process and all the way through graduation. The bill promotes a
seamless process from high school to post-graduation to ensure that
students know exactly what they are getting into with regard to college
quality and costs before they get started.
On the matter of student debt, my bill takes a range of steps to help
student borrowers better manage their loans. It provides for better up-
front and exit counseling for students regarding their federally
guaranteed loans. It eliminates fees on federal loans to save students
money. My bill also strengthens consumer protections for student loans,
and it creates a safety net for borrowers who are seriously delinquent
on their loans by automatically enrolling them in an income-based
repayment plan with affordable monthly payments. To ensure that private
student debt is treated no differently than any other consumer debt, my
bill would allow private student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy,
as they were before the law was changed in 2005.
My bill would hold schools more accountable to both students and
taxpayers by ensuring that no Federal money goes to marketing and
advertising instead of education. I am also introducing new metrics,
including a repayment rate, by which to better measure schools'
performance. The bill also changes the current ``90/10'' rule to ``85/
15'' to ensure that for-profit schools are not wholly subsidized by the
Federal government. For those bad actors making record-breaking profits
through fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars, my bill includes a number
of provisions designed to penalize this behavior and to stop it.
Our country has reached a critical point in higher education. Beyond
disagreements on specific policy issues, we must come together to
decide whether higher education should be preserved, first and
foremost, as a public good. Over the past two decades, rising college
costs have been shifted unfairly onto the backs of students and
families. The central question we must ask is whether this accelerating
trend is the right direction for this country--whether paying for
college should be the sole responsibility of students and families or
our shared responsibility as a nation. My bill reflects the overall
belief that all stakeholders--states, the Federal Government, students
and families--should invest together in higher education to keep
college affordable and accessible to all. Our country's economic future
and the promise of equal opportunity depend upon this critical
investment.
It is unacceptable to ask students and their families to shoulder the
bulk of college costs. Historically, this has never been the case, and
we should not allow this unfortunate trend to grow worse. My bill would
get us back on the right track, ensuring that our higher education
system is affordable, transparent, and ultimately accountable to our
students and taxpayers. Higher education should serve as an equalizer
of opportunity for all, and that is a promise that we must fulfill
together.
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