On the recordFebruary 28, 2012
I thank my friend for yielding. First, let me say I agree with my friend from California that the highest priority in higher education ought to be avoiding that doubling of student loan rates this summer. We should get to work on that. Second, I rise in support of this bill, and let me tell you why. There is no question that avoiding fraudulent or wrongful credit hours is something we need to do. If someone pays for a credit hour, it ought to really be worth what they're paying for. And certainly, if the Federal taxpayers are paying for this through a Pell Grant or a student loan, it certainly ought to be worth what we're paying for. The question is, Who is best positioned to make that determination? For years in American higher education, we've had a system where a combination of institutions, their regional accrediting bodies--which are peer accreditors--and to some extent State governments have decided the answer to that question. Without question, there have been some abuses. Without question, there have been some wrong answers. I don't think that those abuses or wrong answers justify adding another layer of decision-making to the system, which would be the Department of Education. I certainly do think it is worth the attention of the committee, the Congress, and the administration to think about ways to root out the bad practices that we have seen; but I think yet another level of rulemaking is the wrong way to go.…
