Even a Divided Congress Can Do Much to Help Today's College Students
The Higher Education Act was last reauthorized in 2008. A divided Congress means that the current law governing American higher education will likely remain in place, for better or worse, for at least a few more years. However, Congress can take other steps right now to help today’s college students.
The HEA is the cornerstone of the federal government’s efforts to open the doors of the nation’s colleges and universities to millions of students each year. It authorizes the Pell Grant program, the federal student-loan program, and the federal work-study program, all of which have enabled millions of low- and middle-income Americans to attend college.
But in its current form, the HEA is a relic of a previous era, one characterized by a vastly different student profile and learning environment than exists today. So much has changed since 2008, when today’s traditional-age college seniors were just starting elementary school.
Today’s college students are more likely to be adults balancing education with work and family responsibilities. They’re more likely to be minority students and first-generation college students. These “post-traditional learners” are now the new majority of undergraduate students. And the way that higher education reaches students has evolved as much as the students themselves. Online learning exploded in recent decades, and more than half of college students now take at least one online class each year; roughly one in five are enrolled fully online.
The past 15 years have seen strong growth in the number of industry-aligned short-term education programs. And students are increasingly interested in pursuing a broader array of postsecondary education credentials outside of an associate or bachelor’s degree. While the nation’s overall college enrollment continues to wane, the price to attend college—and the debt students incur to earn a degree—keeps rising.
To date, policy reforms have been focused almost entirely on helping borrowers manage their loan repayments—or, in the case of the Biden administration’s efforts, wiping out significant chunks of their debt. To actually bend the cost curve and make higher education more affordable, though, the system needs to change.
Here are five ways in which Congress can help meet the needs of today’s students:
Improve transparency around college costs and outcomes. Millions of students and families are making consequential decisions about college programs—and how to pay for them—with only minimal and sometimes confusing information. Students need clearer and simpler information about the true cost, debt levels, and earnings potential associated with specific education programs so that they can better gauge the return on their education investment. Congress should require institutions to use straightforward language in their financial-aid award letters so that students can make fully informed decisions about which college to attend or how much money to borrow, and better understand the trade-offs between college and other options.
Hold all institutions and programs accountable for preparing students for success after graduation. Expensive academic programs coupled with dismal post-graduation outcomes have contributed to rising rates of debt and defaults over the past decade. Students and taxpayers are questioning whether a college education is worth the sizable investment of both personal resources and taxpayer subsidies. Colleges can’t control how much students borrow, yet many are on the hook for those who don’t pay back their loans. Until Congress lets colleges put limits on student borrowing, Congress should hold colleges accountable for what they can control: cost. Congress should replace the existing gainful-employment metrics with a single tuition-to-earnings test for all institutions that draw down federal funds for student financial aid.
Give students more flexibility to use their Pell Grants for college alternatives. Restrictive student-aid policies bar many students from taking non-college pathways that serve as a quick and affordable on-ramp to jobs or future education. Congress should let students use Pell Grants to pursue short-term education and workforce programs without restrictions on time, modality, substantive interaction, and other characteristics that have little correlation with learning.
Create the conditions to scale innovative finance models. Postsecondary education has outgrown the restrictive system of loans and grants. New models such as matched education-savings plans, income-share agreements, and outcomes-based loans can remove financial barriers, expand student choice, and better align the incentives for students and education providers. Congress should ensure the conditions exist for experimentation, particularly for new ways for students to finance their education outside of the federal student-loan program.
Encourage experimentation with models that reduce costs and time to earn a credential. Seat time and arbitrary credit requirements to earn a degree, initially designed to aid in determining faculty pensions, have for too long been used as a proxy for skills and competency. Credit for prior learning—skills and knowledge gained through work, the military, or earlier college attendance—and competency-based education can reduce the time and cost required to earn a degree. Congress should support the development of credit for prior learning assessments and work to eliminate financial barriers to utilizing credit for prior learning.
Postsecondary education has been transformed since the Higher Education Act was last reauthorized, but federal policies around pricing and education financing have failed to keep pace. A divided Congress should come together to empower innovators and give students and families more options and more information to make informed postsecondary education choices. With some well-considered policy reforms, we are more likely to achieve outcomes that will benefit institutions, students, and society.
