Republicans Focus on Affordability, Accountability in Higher Ed Overhaul
Katherine Knott
January 25, 2024
The wide-ranging College Cost Reduction Act suggests there’s an emerging bipartisan consensus on what needs fixing in higher education.
House Republicans’ ambitious new plan to overhaul higher education would likely have a significant impact on colleges and universities.
Should the College Cost Reduction Act pass and be signed into law, colleges would be on the hook for unpaid student loans. Graduates’ earnings would play a key role in the evaluation of programs, too, among other changes that its sponsors say would lower the cost of college.
While it’s focused on affordability and accountability, the bill from Representative Virginia Foxx, the North Carolina Republican who chairs the House education committee, also contains a number of conservative policy priorities—such as barring accrediting agencies from requiring institutions to adhere to diversity, equity and inclusion standards—and is unlikely to move forward in a Democratic Party–controlled Senate.
