Scott Introduces Bill to Make Colleges More Responsible for Student Debt

Despite the debt ceiling agreement obliging President Joe Biden (D) and his administration to resume federal student loan payments and interest on August 30^th, the plan “remains in limbo at the Supreme Court” and will be decided in the coming weeks according to Politico. However, Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) has introduced a bill to make higher education institutions more responsible for student loan debt, rather than taxpayers.

The Changing Our Learning, Loans, Endowments, and Graduation Expectations (COLLEGE) Act also requires institutions to report student success metrics so that “massive university endowments benefit students and families first,” according to Sen. Scott’s press release.

“For far too long, state and federal leaders have taken a misguided and failed approach to managing public institutions of higher education. The result of their decades of failed policy and mismanagement is millions of Americans with mountains of student debt racked up earning degrees that haven’t prepared them for good, high-paying job in the real world,” said Sen. Scott.

The COLLEGE Act would establish an agreement between postsecondary institutions and its students by becoming responsible for 1% of the scholar’s loan balance who are in default while increasing 1% each year until the institution is responsible for 10% at the end of 10 years.

Scott believes that this plan would give colleges and universities the incentive to properly prepare students for careers that lead to higher-paying jobs.

“Now, these same ‘leaders’ are claiming that the answer to our higher education problems is massive and unconditional student loan debt forgiveness. It’s choosing to treat a symptom when we can cure the disease,” mentioned Scott.

“If we want real results that improve student performance, boost post-graduation job placement and keep tuition affordable, we need to do the hard work of actually holding colleges and universities responsible for the outcomes of their students and accountable to the American taxpayer. My COLLEGE Act takes big, important steps toward doing exactly that.”

Should the bill make its way to the President’s desk, would require the Secretary of Education to publish “common-sense metrics” regarding the 6-year graduation rate for each academic program, percentages of graduates who achieve full-time employment, and the cost of graduate school for each program.