Home News House Democrats unveil higher education plan to lower college costs – The Washington Post

House Democrats unveil higher education plan to lower college costs – The Washington Post

73
0

The Democratic-controlled House is expected Tuesday to release a plan to make college more affordable and schools more accountable for students’ success, reviving fraught efforts to reauthorize the main federal law governing higher education.

Compared with some of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates’ higher education proposals, including student debt forgiveness, the House bill is pretty tame. Still, the legislative package — provided in advance to The Washington Post — delivers reforms that top the wish lists of many liberal policymakers. Yet it may not go far enough for some student advocates.

The bill sends a clear message that greater federal investment is key to easing the burden of student debt, boosting graduation rates and lifting barriers to economic mobility. Democrats would use the federal purse to provide more grant aid and support services to students while imposing tougher regulations on colleges that produce poor outcomes.

Spending more money runs counter to Republican priorities to limit taxpayers’ stake in financing of higher education and the federal role in the sector. The ideological differences have made a bipartisan overhaul of the Higher Education Act elusive. The federal law, originally passed in 1965, is supposed to be renewed every five years but was last reauthorized a decade ago.

View Original Source

tags:

LEAVE YOUR COMMENT

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *