According to higher education officials, the Republican domestic policy measure that passed Congress on Thursday has significant ramifications for both students and universities and may make going to college less accessible.
The plan would reduce the amount of money students may borrow for graduate programs, remove protections for student loans, and increase the tax on endowments that colleges utilize for financial aid.
Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, stated that the bill will make college less accessible and that colleges would become less diverse in terms of race and economic status.
Republicans claim that the regulations hold a sector that hasn’t been able to police itself accountable. They claim that the tax on university endowments, which are frequently used by institutions to offer financial aid, carries out a Trump campaign pledge to target the wealthiest universities in the country, and that the limitations on student borrowing are meant to curb the skyrocketing debt of graduate students.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that over the course of ten years, the student loan reforms will save the government about $300 billion.
It coincides with the Trump administration’s assault on colleges and institutions, which has reduced research funding and made it more difficult for foreign students to enroll. Prominent universities including Harvard, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania have been singled out by the government. However, the measure demonstrates that the Republican goal for higher education goes well beyond Ivy League institutions.
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