Last week, President Obama unveiled his new plan to make college more affordable, speaking to high school students in Syracuse, NY. His proposal aims to incentivize efficiency and reduce tuition costs by creating a national university rating system based on a school’s overall value to students. But while there are a few laudable initiatives included in his plan, the president’s proposal is far too modest to make much difference for students and their families.
The administration’s College Scorecard compares universities across the nation using a rubric inspired by discussions with students, education professionals, and state leaders. By 2018, the ranking system will help determine the amount federal student aid schools receive. Sounds promising, but Obama must get Congressional approval to move forward, and the public won’t even know what the scorecard will look like until 2015. The loose timeframe and the need to consult what will likely still be a gridlocked Congress means the most substanitive parts of the President’s plan are nearly impossible to put into practice.
Even if the rating system could be easily implemented, it still lacks the ability to reverse the recent explosion in higher education costs. According to Bloomberg, college tuition and fees have increased 1,120 percent in the last 30 years—while food has increased 244 percent over the same time period. A national rating system would give students and their families more information when selecting colleges, but information in an intrinsically flawed education market can’t slow the rise of tuition costs fast enough to benefit students.
A brighter part of the new plan is Obama’s proposal to reform the Pell Grant system to promote efficiency and cap mandatory payments on student loan debt at 10 percent of monthly income. Like the other parts of the President’s plan, there’s little hope for loan relief without unilateral executive branch action.
If he’s able to pull it off, such a cap on payments could do real and lasting good for millions of students suffocating under debt burdens and high interest rates. But until the President decides to risk serious political capital on a fight to give students relief, we are left with largely the same option as the beginning of his administration: hope.
