The White House on Monday released its first stand-alone proposal for reforming higher education, outlining the Trump administration's priorities as Congress seeks to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA), The Chronicle of Higher Education reported.
The plan echos themes raised in President Trump's fiscal year 2020 budget blueprint and illustrates how the work of the White House, the U.S. Education Department, and Congress overlap on key issues. It also reflects the division between Democratic and Republican lawmakers over the federal government's role in regulating colleges and universities.
Monday's proposal, like last week's budget request, calls on Congress to eliminate Public Service Loan Forgiveness, reform the Federal Work-Study program, and develop a risk-sharing loan system that would require colleges to share some financial responsibility for defaults on student loans. The White House's latest plan goes further to limit loan debt directly by suggesting new caps on the Parent and Grad PLUS programs, which currently allow borrowers to take out unlimited amounts of debt.
A number of the policy reforms included in the Trump administration's recommendations have bipartisan support in Congress, reported Bloomberg Government. The proposal urges lawmakers to streamline income-driven repayment programs for student borrowers, allow Pell Grants to cover short-term career-training programs, expand federal aid to prisoners eligible for release, and simplify the student aid application process by allowing the IRS to share earnings data with the Education Department.
The plan also includes several more controversial proposals, such as easing the process for accrediting agencies to approve colleges for Title IV eligibility and eliminating the difference between regional accreditors and national accreditors.
The White House needs congressional action to enact its proposals, reported the Chronicle. The divided Congress recently revived negotiations to reauthorize the HEA. The House education committee's Democratic leadership released its vision for updating the sweeping higher education legislation. Meanwhile, Senate education committee leaders have begun talks of their own. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chair of the panel, has said he hoped to pass a bipartisan bill by the end of the year.
"I share the administration's goals to make a college education worth it and to make it simpler to apply for federal student aid and pay back student loans," Alexander said on Monday in a written statement. "It is helpful to have these suggestions as I work with Sen. Patty Murray, the senior Democrat on the education committee, to develop bipartisan recommendations so that we can report legislation to the full Senate before summer."
Related Links
White House Proposals to Reform the Higher Education Act
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/HEA-Principles.pdf
The Chronicle of Higher Education
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Here-s-What-the-Trump/245919
Bloomberg Government
https://about.bgov.com/news/student-loan-caps-proposed-in-white-house-higher-education-plan/