U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-07) wrote an op-ed recently explaining how one of his bills would solve the student debt crisis.
Green published the op-ed last Friday in The Daily Signal discussing his Kids to College Act, which is cosponsored by U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX-15). The op-ed is available in its entirety here.
Colleges could begin offering “income share agreements,” where students agree to pay for college with a percentage of their future earnings. This way, colleges and universities would be incentivized to help students secure good paying jobs after they graduate, because tuition payments would depend on it.
Responsibility would fall on the student as well. Income share agreements would encourage prospective students to research starting salaries for their major and learn what they can expect in return for their studies.
In a desire to see income share agreements more widely offered, my Democratic colleague Vicente Gonzalez of Texas partnered with me to introduce the Kids to College Act, a bipartisan bill that would encourage more schools to utilize these agreements.
In his op-ed, without naming names, Green criticized 2020 Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) plan to wipe out up to $50,000 of student loan debt for more than 42 million Americans.
Green’s and Gonzalez’ bill would encourage higher education institutions to pursue income share agreements (ISA), as reported by The Tennessee Star on March 19.
The Kids to College Act is a response to recent college admissions scandals, The Star said. By authorizing “income share agreements,” colleges and universities are incentivized in helping students secure good paying employment after they graduate.
Green’s and Gonzalez’s bill comes in response to multiple media outlets, including The New York Times, reporting a major federal sting that resulted in at least 50 people being arrested. Officials said the scheme revolved around a college admissions company allegedly bribing university officials to admit students on false pretenses as members of sports teams or allegedly cheating on standardized tests, according to The Times.
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Jason M. Reynolds has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist at outlets of all sizes.
Students and their parents were all too happy to apply, take and spend the money. They knew the requirements but now think they should not pay?? The problem is we need to get the federal government out of the loan business and let colleges compete for students based on degrees offered (degrees that will get a graduate a real job) and tuition rates. Competition will drive tuition rates down. Before the government got involved tuition for college was affordable for most families. Those that could not afford it sent their kids out into the job market and they worked their way through college. The government makes billions off these student loans and they don’t care how much the colleges charge. THE MORE THEY CHARGE THE MORE MONEY THE GOVERNMENT MAKES. As usual anything the government gets involved with they ruin. We don’t need any new plans from our elected, just get the government out of the loan business and out of education!!!!!
I am probably missing a lot here but I really do not see this as a positive. Just require those with student loans to repay them as they had agreed – like I did. If not, pursue legal recourse like is done with any other legal contract.