Don’t expect to see a Senate bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA) this year, according to the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Speaking this week at a New York Times higher education forum, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee) said the “Democrats won’t do it,” adding that “they want to wait until next year to see if they’re in better shape politically,” referring to the upcoming fall elections.
Alexander said he’s known for trying to garner bipartisan results, but, following four years of hearings on HEA, Democrats on the committee haven’t even replied to GOP proposals forwarded several months ago.
During a Q&A with New York Times political reporter Kate Zernike, the former U.S. education secretary addressed questions regarding accountability, student aid, the federal student aid application, Title IX and allowing all viewpoints to be expressed on college campuses.
On accountability
Rather than relying solely on student loan default rates to determine colleges’ eligibility to participate in federal student aid programs, Alexander said the measure also should include all student repayment rates, including students with federal loans who are not in repayment but not in default. That would raise the threshold for colleges to participate in the programs, but it’s also a more accurate measure of how well colleges are serving their students, he said.
That lead to a question about measuring the value of a college degree. Alexander said that’s difficult to do, and he doesn’t think the purpose of college is solely to get a job.
The discussion also included allowing various viewpoints on college campuses. Republicans and a growing segment of the public are skeptical of colleges’ being open to conservative opinions. Alexander said colleges should be a place where students can hear all points of view and learn to process those opinions, accept them or develop counterpoints.
Quashing conservative groups and not allowing conservative speakers on campus doesn’t help to prepare students for the real world, he added.
“We don’t want a whole generation of students who have to go to a safe room when they read an offensive tweet,” he said.
Overcoming red tape
Alexander also addressed a favorite topic of his: streamlining the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The complexity of the application, which has 108 questions, often intimidates families and students from even completing the form, he said.
“The president of Southwest Community College in Memphis told me he thinks he loses 1,500 students a year because of the complexity” of FAFSA, he said.
In Tennessee, students who want to apply for the state’s free community college tuition must first complete a FAFSA. The state pays the remainder of tuition after federal and other student aid is factored in.
That lead to a discussion on whether the federal government would consider offering free community college across the country. Alexander said he favors making Pell grants “stronger” by increasing the grant amounts and making it available to more students, as Congress did recently by making Pell available yearround.
The other option is to give that money to states to help pay for higher education, but Alexander said that “states should do more,” noting that they have generally been lowering their support for higher education for many years.
More focus on tech ed
Asked if there was too much emphasis on going to a four-year college, Alexander said no, but there could be more options for high school students to learn technical skills and more focus on two years of postsecondary education.
“That fits a lot of needs and is a good stepping stone to a four-year college,” he said.
The senator also briefly touched on his idea to offer three years of college as a way to compress the time to graduation and reduce college costs. It hasn’t gained traction, he acknowledged. The best current way to complete a credential quickly is to attend college yearround and take advantage of the yearround Pell Grant, he said.
