[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 92 (Tuesday, June 5, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H4770-H4773]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AFFORDABLE POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2017, the Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from North
Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for 30 minutes.
General Leave
Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have
5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous material on the topic of this Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from North Carolina?
There was no objection.
Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, the Federal Government became heavily involved
in the Nation's postsecondary education system when Congress passed the
Higher Education Act of 1965.
Over time, well-intentioned but misdirected policies and requirements
have put special interests ahead of students' interests. It is time to
develop a system designed to support students in completing an
affordable postsecondary education that will prepare them to enter the
workforce with the skills they need for lifelong success.
The Education and the Workforce Committee is moving us in that
direction, Mr. Speaker, by passing last December the PROSPER Act. The
PROSPER Act, the word ``PROSPER'' stands for: Promoting Real
Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform.
{time} 2045
It is a really apt title for what it is that the committee is
proposing. I emphasize this is a work of the Education and the
Workforce Committee and the 23 Republican Members who are on that
committee.
[[Page H4771]]
What the PROSPER Act does is it expands student access to higher
education in many different ways:
It allows students to use Federal student aid, including Pell grants,
for shorter term programs that will help students get into the
workforce more quickly.
It expands the availability of industry-led earn-and-learn programs
that lead to high-wage, high-skill, and high-demand careers.
It improves early awareness of postsecondary Federal financial aid
options for students in high school.
It makes the application for Federal student aid easier for middle
class families by streamlining the Free Application for Federal Student
Aid, or FAFSA, making the FAFSA available on a mobile application and
ensuring both the app and the online form are consumer tested, clear,
and easy to use. We hear from parents all the time about how difficult
the FAFSA is to complete.
It repeals unfair requirements that limit low-income students' access
to career-focused institutions.
It supports at-risk and minority students by reforming the TRIO
programs to better evaluate the effectiveness of these programs, expand
access to these programs for students, and encourage institutions to
create programs using evidence-based innovations like P4Success.
The PROSPER Act improves student aid in the following ways:
simplifying student aid into one grant program, one loan program, and
one workstudy program to ease confusion for students who are deciding
the best options available to pay for their college educations.
Let me give you an example, Mr. Speaker, of the complications of the
loan programs as they currently exist. There are six different loan
programs, nine repayment options, and 32 deferment and forbearance
options. What has that gotten us? It has gotten students $1.4 trillion
into debt. We find that unacceptable, and PROSPER will help change
that.
We give a Pell grant bonus to recipients who enroll in the number of
credits necessary to complete their education in what is considered on
time. That will vary: for students in community colleges, 2 years; and
for students in a baccalaureate program, 4 years.
We add $14.5 billion back into students' pockets by eliminating
hidden origination fees on Federal student loans that add unnecessary
costs to college.
Mr. Speaker, I talk every day to Members who have been misled by
colleges and universities in their districts about what PROSPER does.
Many well-meaning, I am sure, administrators and college presidents are
calling Members and saying: The PROSPER Act cuts financial aid for
students.
Mr. Speaker, it does nothing of the sort. Because of the way we
restructure the loan programs, however, it does save the taxpayers,
right now, based on CBO's score, $15 billion. However, it makes
available to students 12 million more dollars just in financial aid,
not to count what we are talking about in the $14.5 billion in
origination fees.
By providing access to a new ONE Loan with reasonable loan limits and
creating an easily accessible income-based repayment option, it offers
an affordable monthly payment option to all borrowers, and it caps
interest accrual. This is something else that the schools
misunderstand. We do help the students with their loan programs not
while they are in school, but when they are out of school.
Many people have misunderstood the legislation and the wording in the
PROSPER Act, so I have encouraged my colleagues to share with me the
concerns they hear from colleges and universities so we can make sure
that what they are being told are the facts and not either a
misunderstanding of the legislation, because people aren't used to
reading the legislation, or an out-and-out fabrication of what is in
the bill.
We reward the institutions in the workstudy program by helping the
most vulnerable students complete their education and expand the
ability of students to receive Federal workstudy dollars while gaining
valuable work experience in a field of their choice.
Mr. Speaker, I have been in education for a long, long time. I know
40-some years ago we had studies that showed that students who
participated in the workstudy program made better grades, made better
use of their time, graduated at a higher rate, and were much more
likely to get a job after graduation. What we do is we actually double
the amount of money in the workstudy program and allow a portion of
that money to be used by students in an industry- and institution-
approved program in the private sector.
We all know that internships often turn into jobs, and we know it is
much more likely that a student would get a job in the private sector
if he or she is able to do an internship and workstudy funds can be
used to cover those internships.
Another thing that the PROSPER Act does is it reimagines how
institutions best serve students in these ways, providing students
access to new providers of postsecondary education by allowing those
providers to partner with traditional colleges and universities for up
to 100 percent of a student's educational program.
We are living in a vastly changing world with all types of
opportunities available now to students to gain an education and to
gain the skills they need. We need to stop living in the 16th century,
as much of education is doing in this country, and come up to speed
with what is available to us through technology.
We, in the PROSPER Act, encourage competency-based education by
creating a clear pathway for competency-based education programs to be
eligible for Federal student aid to help students attain a less costly
degree based on their own learning rather than time spent in a seat.
Mr. Speaker, when I taught many years ago at Appalachian State
University, at Mayland Community College, and at Caldwell Community
College, I often encouraged students to participate in activities
outside the classroom because so much impressive learning can go on
outside of sitting in a seat listening to a teacher lecturing. We need
to do more of that.
Students, again, have access to so many opportunities where they
could be deemed proficient in an area and be able to get credit for
that which would speed up their earning a degree.
We repeal the antiquated and rigid definition of distance education
making it possible for institutions to develop more creative methods of
delivering postsecondary education.
We allow, through the PROSPER Act, minority-serving institutions and
Historically Black Colleges and Universities to use grant funds for
certain initiatives such as pay for success, dual enrollment, and the
development of career-centered programs.
It is time, again, Mr. Speaker, for us to acknowledge that there are
many, many opportunities out there for students to gain the skills that
they need to be able to be certified and be able to get the credentials
that they need to lead a successful life in our country, and what we
are doing with the PROSPER Act is advancing those opportunities.
I want to quote from an article that was recently published that
encourages the passage of the PROSPER Act. The article was written by
Rachelle Peterson, who is the policy director at the National
Association of Scholars, and I am going to give a few quotes from that
article.
She says: ``It has been 53 years since President Lyndon Johnson
signed the Higher Education Act into law, and 10 years since it was
reauthorized, under President Obama. Over the years, the law--which
touches nearly every aspect of higher education--has turned into a
special interest bonanza. It shields traditional colleges from
marketplace competition, weaves a labyrinthine web of student aid
options, packs on the pork, and in the last administration served as a
pretext for the Department of Education to invent politically charged
regulations.''
I couldn't have said it better myself, Mr. Speaker.
She goes on to say: ``The PROSPER Act . . . would streamline Federal
programs, relax burdensome regulations, forbid the Secretary of
Education from acting outside the scope of the law, and protect the key
principles of free speech and religious freedom.''
Mr. Speaker, it is hard to get a package of legislation that would do
all of those things, but she goes on: ``Today,
[[Page H4772]]
my organization, the National Association of Scholars, released a top-
to-bottom review of the PROSPER Act, concluding that it represents the
best opportunity to reform higher education in decades. With a few
tweaks, the PROSPER Act should be passed at once. Two especially
important areas--Federal student aid reform and protections for freedom
of speech and association--show why.''
I am very, very grateful to the National Association of Scholars and
Rachelle Peterson for her kind words about the PROSPER Act.
She goes on to say: ``Currently, Federal student aid is a complicated
system that encourages students to take on unmanageable debt and
incentivizes colleges to raise tuition.''
She mentions the different loan programs, grants, and ways to get
loans forgiven. She talks about the PROSPER Act simplifying Federal
student aid, reining in costs, and making it easier for students to see
their options.
She goes on to say: ``PROSPER also gives colleges `skin in the game'
by making them financial stakeholders in students' success. Individual
programs whose students have low loan repayment rates would become
ineligible for accepting Federal student loans, forcing these low-
performing programs either to improve their quality or to lower their
costs. When students drop out, colleges would become liable to repay a
portion of the students' Federal aid, creating an incentive to adopt
high admissions standards.''
She goes on to say: `` . . . the PROSPER Act does a remarkable job of
cutting bureaucratic overgrowth to return Federal student aid to its
core purpose: helping students who are prepared for college find ways
to afford it. . . . `'
{time} 2100
She goes on and on. I am not going to continue to quote from her, but
I include in the Record this material so that every person reading the
Congressional Record has an opportunity to read her excellent article.
[From The Hill, May 23, 2018]
Congress, Pass the Prosper Act for Federal Student Aid Reform
(By Rochelle Peterson)
It has been 53 years since President Lyndon Johnson signed
the Higher Education Act into law, and 10 years since it was
reauthorized, under President Obama. Over the years, the
law--which touches nearly every aspect of higher education--
has turned into a special interest bonanza. It shields
traditional colleges from marketplace competition, weaves a
labyrinthine web of student aid options, packs on the pork,
and in the last administration served as a pretext for the
Department of Education to invent politically charged
regulations.
The PROSPER Act, introduced in December by Rep. Virginia
Foxx (R-N.C.), would reauthorize the Higher Education Act and
clean up the mess it has become. The bill would streamline
federal programs, relax burdensome regulations, forbid the
Secretary of Education from acting outside the scope of the
law, and protect the key principles of free speech and
religious freedom.
Today, my organization, the National Association of
Scholars released a top-to-bottom review of the PROSPER Act,
concluding that it represents the best opportunity to reform
higher education in decades. With a few tweaks, the PROSPER
Act should be passed at once. Two especially important
areas--federal student aid reform and protections for freedom
of speech and association--show why.
Currently, federal student aid is a complicated system that
encourages students to take on unmanageable debt and
incentivizes colleges to raise tuition. The system has six
loan programs, numerous grants, and some four dozen options
for paying off or getting loans forgiven.
The PROSPER Act simplifies federal student aid, reining in
costs and making it easier for students to see their options.
It caps the amount of money parents and students can borrow
from the federal government. It streamlines federal student
aid into a single loan program, a single grant program, and a
single repayment program. It eliminates special interest
projects, such as public service loan forgiveness, which
privileged government employees by forgiving their loans
after 10 years of payments.
PROSPER also gives colleges ``skin in the game'' by making
them financial stakeholders in students' success. Individual
programs whose students have low loan repayment rates would
become ineligible for accepting federal student loans,
forcing these low-performing programs either to improve their
quality or to lower their costs. When students drop out,
colleges would become liable to repay a portion of the
students' federal aid, creating an incentive to adopt high
admissions standards.
The bill misses some important elements of student aid
reform, such as making income-share agreements enforceable
and requiring colleges to spend a minimum percentage of
endowment income. It also maintains the Department of
Education's monopoly on government student aid, rather than
transferring financial authority to the states.
But overall, the PROSPER Act does a remarkable job of
cutting bureaucratic overgrowth to return federal student aid
to its core purpose: helping students who are prepared for
college find ways to afford it, without driving up costs.
The PROSPER Act also takes an important stand for freedom
of speech and association, principles that colleges have
recently given scant attention. The Act prevents colleges
from discriminating against religious student groups by
denying them official recognition and other standard
benefits, such as access to campus facilities. And it
protects the rights of religious institutions to govern
themselves in a manner consistent with their religious
missions.
The PROSPER Act also addresses the need for free speech on
campus, although its policy changes, while laudable, need to
be shored up. Currently, many colleges designate ``free
speech zones'' as the only places students and faculty can
engage in public speech. In response, the PROSPER Act offers
the ``sense of Congress'' that free speech zones are
``inherently at odds'' with the First Amendment--a principled
though legally unenforceable statement.
A key amendment by Rep. Tom Garrett (R-Va.) requires
colleges and universities to disclose any speech codes,
providing sunlight that will help watchdog organizations and
free speech litigators target bad campus policies. The
amendment also authorizes the secretary of Education to
investigate colleges that are accused of using unpublished
rules or selective enforcement to target certain types of
speech. This is important for students whose free speech has
been abridged, because they currently have little recourse
but to file a lawsuit, an expensive and time-consuming
endeavor.
These are key changes that go a long way toward restoring
freedom of speech on campus. But no bill is perfect, and the
PROSPER Act misses some opportunities. It should also
authorize the secretary of Education to investigate whether
colleges' policies are actually conducive to free speech in
the first place. Colleges should be required to report to
Congress annually on the state of free speech on their
campuses, including details on any violations of free speech,
punishment for offenders, and steps taken to protect free
speech going forward Colleges repeatedly found to be
malfeasant at protecting free speech should lose eligibility
for Title IV federal student aid.
Students deserve a college education that is rigorous,
affordable, dedicated to intellectual freedom, and focused on
scholarship, not politicization. The PROSPER Act is a step in
the right direction.
Ms. FOXX. My reason for doing this is to say that it is not just
members of the committee, it is not just Members of Congress who
support the PROSPER Act. It is people who understand the situation that
exists in our country and want to see us make things better for
students.
Mr. Speaker, I grew up extraordinarily poor, but I knew that
education was my key to getting out of poverty. I had to work hard, but
I also had to get credentials. In this day and time, we know that
having credentials is more important than ever.
So I want to say again, the PROSPER Act, which stands for Promoting
Real Opportunities, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform,
is a key to doing that. This will do more to help poor students get out
of poverty than almost anything that I have seen in a long, long time.
Every Member of Congress hears every day that employers do not have
people to fill the 6 million jobs that are out there that are vacant
right now. What we do with PROSPER is make it possible for 7 million
more students to get Pell Grants. And part of our reason for doing that
is to help students get into short-term programs that will give them
skills, give them credentials, and allow them to build on those skills
over time, hopefully, to create a degree.
Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, what we are doing with PROSPER is
allowing people to be able to get to participate in short-term programs
where they will gain skills that will make them employable. They will
be able to build on their credentials over time and, we hope, become
life-long learners and ultimately earn degrees.
But the main thing is, we have right now 6.6 million jobs vacant in
this country. We have employers crying for people to fill those jobs.
They cannot find those people now in this country. We have many people
who could fill the jobs if they were able to gain the skills for them.
By opening up Pell Grants to 7 million more students, we think we will
get a match.
[[Page H4773]]
It is clear right now, Mr. Speaker, that post-secondary education is
unworkable for far too many individuals trying to enter the workforce.
Americans deserve a better system that works for them.
The PROSPER Act advances bold, commonsense solutions that will
transform post-secondary education, better serve students, protect
taxpayers, and set America up for long-term economic success.
We are doing things in the bill that colleges and universities asked
us to do. We are getting the Federal Government out of the way by
repealing outdated Federal regulations and prohibiting the Secretary
from exceeding her authority under the law.
Again, the institutions have asked us for this. By doing this,
everybody wins, Mr. Speaker. The PROSPER Act simplifies and improves
Federal student aid by moving to one grant, one loan, one workstudy
system, making it easier for students to understand their options. The
bill encourages institutions to evolve, but holds them responsible by
rethinking the post-secondary education accountability system.
The bottom line is this bill is about getting people into jobs with
the skills they need to succeed. To do that, it cuts through the morass
of Federal red tape, eliminates the maze of Federal aid programs, and
unleashes innovation to a sector stuck in the 20th century--I would
argue maybe even the 19th century.
I am going to make one or two more general comments about what
PROSPER does, because I think it is so important that the American
people understand what it is we are attempting to do here.
Since 2007, Mr. Speaker, the published in-state tuition and fees at
institutions increased at an average rate of 3.2 percent beyond
inflation. If that had happened with the average automobile in this
country, the average car today would be costing $80,000, instead of
probably about $27,000. That is the inflation that has occurred in
post-secondary education.
We have a 6-year completion rate of only 54.8 percent. That is
unacceptable, Mr. Speaker. Every year that a student is forced to stay
in a college or university is costing that student $68,000 in lost
wages and tuition and fees.
The numbers go on and on. Eighty-one percent of parents say 4-year
schools charge too much. Fifty-four percent of parents think 4-year
schools are accessible to middle class Americans. In other words, many
middle class Americans have given up on the hope of their child going
on to school.
Only 13 percent of people in this country believe college graduates
are well prepared for success in the workforce. Fewer than two in five
managers believe college graduates are well-equipped for a job in their
field.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, I made my living for a long time in
education. I love education. I want everybody to get a great education.
I know that it is the ticket to success in this country. But our
current system is not working. What we do with the PROSPER Act,
Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity through Education
Reform will give Americans a much better chance to gain the skills they
need and be successful.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________