Dive Brief:
- Democrats and Republicans on the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions are in agreement that states should take the lead role in paying for and overseeing public higher education.
- At a higher education hearing last week, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) called the decline in state higher ed spending over the last few decades “a stunning abdication of responsibility,” the Chronicle of Higher Education reported.
- Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) blamed rising Medicaid costs for the spending decline, saying that the federal government should help states and public higher ed institutions by cutting regulations on federally backed research. It was also suggested that the federal government should simplify the financial aid process.
Dive Insight:
While bipartisan agreement on an issue regarding public colleges and universities is nice, it’s still a long shot that Republicans and Democrats will pass any meaningful higher ed legislation. Democrats say the federal government should create incentives for states to increase their higher ed spending and states should scrutinize for-profit colleges and companies that claim to offer student-loan debt relief.
Still, perhaps the prodding from their federal counterparts will encourage state lawmakers to continue the recent post-recession increases in spending.