Washington, D.C.- Senator Rick Scott (R-Fl) reintroduced the Changing Our Learning, Loans, Endowments, and Graduation Expectations (COLLEGE) Act yesterday, November 29th.
Senator Scott’s College Act attempts to offset record tuition costs by compelling Universities with broad endowments but still receiving federal financial aid to partially cover students’ tuition.
Universities with $1 to $5 billion, $5-10 billion, and more than $10 billion endowments would have to cover 25, 50, and 75%, respectively, of each student’s tuition costs.
Scott explained he reintroduced the bill after observing how wealthy Universities allegedly extract substantial public funds while fostering on-campus expansions of hateful ideology.
“Universities are raking in BILLIONS from federal taxpayers while sitting on massive endowments & doing nothing to combat disgusting anti-Semitism on their campuses,” said Scott.
Right now, universities are raking in BILLIONS from federal taxpayers while sitting on massive endowments & doing nothing to combat disgusting anti-Semitism on their campuses.
That is unacceptable, so I’m doing something about it ⬇️ https://t.co/ZDtfaWWOVX
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) November 30, 2023
The rise of Anti-Semitic behavior on College campuses has also prompted Representative Aaron Bean (R-Fl) to take legislative action via a new bill.
Representative Bean’s proposal would prevent colleges and universities enabling anti-Semitic attacks from receiving taxpayer funding, specifically federal student aid.
However, Scott’s bill doesn’t just only respond to on-campus hateful conduct, but also to record-high tuition rates.
According to the Educational Data Initiative, tuition at both private and public Universities have risen from 300 to 500%.
The College Act requires Universities report to the Secretary of Education metrics regarding their students academic and financial successes. Reported metrics would include the university’s 4-year graduation rate, median wages post-graduation, and the average total student loan debt of graduates.
Scott claimed that in order to improve students’ in-school and post-grad experiences, Universities must be made “responsible for the outcomes of their students.”
