Education elicited nary a blip as a top voter issue this past election, but make no mistake that America’s system of higher education has been as badly damaged as any other part of our economy left under control of Biden’s far-left Washington bureaucrats for four years. Incompetence and partisanship at the Department of Education has made it harder, more expensive, and complicated than ever for someone to get a college degree or earn a training certification for a promotion. Thankfully, change is just around the corner.
For the last four years, my organization, CASE, has fought back against the Biden-Harris administration’s radical higher education policies. My organization dove into the Department of Education’s open bias and pernicious rules intended to limit students in their preference for attending an institution of higher learning. We’ve brought attention to the FAFSA debacle, the illegal student loan bailout schemes, harmful rulemakings, and biased actions. Taken together, this list of DOE activities over the past four years reads like a criminal rap sheet.
The administration has put career colleges, proprietary schools, and technical training centers that offer prospective students more learning options and greater opportunity directly in the crosshairs. These schools further create effective competition with traditional four-year institutions and their accompanying ideologies.
Fortunately, President-elect Trump has nominated Linda McMahon to lead the DOED and correct course. Whether Trump moves to close down the agency as he has vowed on occasion, it is our hope that the Senate moves swiftly to confirm her nomination to get a head start on the enormous amount of work to be achieved. She will serve as a pivotal figure in much-needed reform, including extending the Higher Education Act and fixing some of the politically biased misguided rules implemented by Sec. Cardona.
Recommended
Ms. McMahon can make an immediate difference by overturning a handful of misguided rules, specifically the ones pertaining to 90/10 and Gainful Employment. These two rules remain the most severe threat to the career colleges, proprietary schools, and technical training centers that offer prospective students more learning options and greater opportunity. These schools further create effective competition with traditional four-year institutions and their accompanying ideologies.
At the same time, McMahon should look to eliminate the Office of Enforcement, an obscure part of the DOED that seems to exist solely to politically prosecute career colleges and universities that are not in lockstep with the mandates of DOED bureaucrats.
It’s simple how this Office operates: identify a career college, presume their guilt, and run them out of business with just the stroke of a pen.
Our Cardona Bias report pulled the curtain back on the Enforcement Office selective enforcement operations, detailing how 10 of 13 recent penalties targeted career colleges. Even more alarmingly, a recent report noted that 70 percent of the Office’s actions have targeted career colleges and faith-based schools – a shocking and unprecedented example of bias. Unsurprisingly, zero actions were taken against any of the Ivy Leagues.
The incoming administration has authority to deprioritize this office and Congress must pass a law to ensure no future harassment bias occurs.
There’s also a new issue bubbling up as well, as the Biden-Harris administration has failed to review and renew Program Participation Agreements (PPA) of universities. In order for colleges to participate in student financial assistant programs, DOED must issue PPAs. To date, over 700 schools are hanging in the balance as the Department failed to issue agreements in a timely (and lawful) manner.
Up on Capitol Hill, Congress should look to rein in the Department and make clear that no future administration can unilaterally issue blanket bailouts of student loans. On a broader level, the House should look to pass a variation of the College Cost Reduction Act, which includes price transparency at schools, increases grants for deserving students, and simplifies the student loan repayment process. If enacted, these measures will greatly benefit students, families, and, ultimately, put pressure on institutions to keep costs in check.
Between Congressional actions and talented incoming leadership at the Department of Education, we are confident the Trump administration will clean house and ensure all colleges are on a level playing field, not cherry-picked to fulfill a political agenda. We are confident in our next Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to clean house and restore transparency, and the Senate must work fast to confirm her. The sooner that happens, the sooner millions more Americans will have greater access to higher education and the earning power of an in-demand job skill.
Gerard Scimeca is an attorney and chairman of CASE, Consumer Action for a Strong Economy, a free-market oriented consumer advocacy group he co-founded.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member