Senator Lamar Alexander, the Tennessee Republican who chairs the Senate education committee, released a white paper Thursday suggesting that current federal accountability measures for higher ed institutions are inadequate or simply unfair.
The paper found that the cohort default rate -- which attaches Title IV federal aid to the percentage of student borrowers who default on their loans after leaving an institution -- rarely sanctions colleges and provides little incentive to improve. The paper suggested a loan repayment rate, an alternative favored on both the right and the left, would be preferable.
But the paper suggested the 90-10 rule, which requires 10 percent of an institution's revenue to come from nonfederal sources, and the gainful-employment rule, issued by the Obama administration to hold career education programs accountable for high student debt, were faulty because they targeted only certain kinds of programs, namely for-profit colleges. Those conclusions are unsurprising coming from the Republican side of the committee. But they won't be well received by Democrats or liberal higher ed groups.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/02/02/alexander-white-paper-lays-out-framework-higher-ed-accountability