The Big Beautiful Bill offers a possible way of punishing and rewarding American universities based on the tuition rates they charge and how well their graduates do after earning their degree.
According to the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative-leaning think tank:
The bill implements a risk-sharing system: a requirement that colleges cover a portion of the costs when students do not earn enough to pay down the principal on their loans. The government uses the revenue from risk-sharing to fund a new direct aid program—the PROMISE Grant—for high-performing, low-tuition colleges that enroll low-income students.
Essentially, the university shares the risk with each student if they are forced to take out a student loan. If the student can pay down the principal on their loan, the university gets rewarded by the PROMISE Grant. If the student is unable to, the university is required to pay a fee to the government. That fee will be used to reward institutions that keep tuition low, yet have high-earning graduates, as compared to their loan principal.
The colleges most likely to benefit from this program include public colleges and community colleges, which generally have lower tuition. Private and for-profit universities will most likely be penalized because their students are charged high tuition, take out massive student loans, and graduates tend to take on low-paying jobs, not worth the tuition.
According to AEI, over the next 10 years, the federal government would receive $17 billion in risk-sharing payments from universities and give out $13.5 billion in PROMISE Grants.
The goal of this program is to try and keep tuition low, eliminate programs generating poor performance in the job market, and reduce overall student debt. The Congressional Budget Office expects a 20 percent drop in student loans, and $6.2 billion in savings for the federal government.
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