Statement from The Education Trust on Reps. John Kline’s and Virginia Foxx’s Principles for Strengthening America’s Higher Education System

WASHINGTON (June 26, 2014) — “We commend House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.) and Higher Education and Workforce Training Subcommittee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) for releasing their principles to move forward with reauthorizing the Higher Education Act (HEA). We are encouraged that the committee will work to improve data collection to capture all higher education students, including those who transfer and are part-time; strengthen educator preparation programs; and safeguard the Pell Grant program.

“Our nation’s higher education system is in desperate need of repair. The issues students face are plentiful, ranging from rising tuition to poorly targeted spending, from a complicated financial aid system to tremendously low graduation rates, from talented low-income students denied genuine access to elite universities to students graduating from college with limited skills to earn a decent living — if they graduate at all.

“These problems are serious and the consequences for students and our nation’s overall well-being are stark. But with big challenges come big opportunities, and a strong HEA bill is just the tool needed to fix our broken system that underserves many students, particularly low-income students and students of color.

“We look forward to working with Chairman Kline, Chairwoman Foxx, and all of the House Education and the Workforce Committee Members to make sure that a reauthorized HEA bill caps student debt and holds institutions of higher education accountable for performance. Our students and country deserve no less.”

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