Becca Balint Assails Republicans For Attacking Universities In Effort To Help Trump's 'Culture War'

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At today's House Judiciary Committee hearing, Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) slammed Republican attacks on universities.

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00:00Price-fixing suit, a press release from Berger Montague titled Plaintiffs in Elite University

00:07Price-Fixing Case Settled with Caltech and John Hopkins, and then also Plaintiffs' Memorandum

00:14of Law in support of their motion for class certification in the case of Corzo v. Brown.

00:20The gentlewoman from-

00:22Mr. Chairman, I just had one more, if I could.

00:24Oh, go ahead.

00:24This is for one article entitled, Congressional Republicans' Budget Reconciliation Bill in

00:29Peril's 4.4 million Pell Grant recipients.

00:33Without objection.

00:35The gentlewoman from Vermont is now recognized.

00:37Thank you, Mr. Chair.

00:38We should be able to work together and find bipartisan solutions to this problem.

00:44I have two teenagers myself.

00:46They're starting to look at colleges.

00:48I've got sticker shock, as do most parents who go through this process.

00:52And I am really worried about all of the talented students who don't even apply, not just because

00:58of the tuition or the room and board, but simply the fees in order to apply.

01:04It's out of reach for so many families.

01:06And the astronomical costs mean working people do not have a fair shot at higher education.

01:13I think that that is why we have been so vocal today about the cuts to the Pell Grant program.

01:19Everyone seems to agree that the high cost of college is a real problem in this country,

01:26but we can't seem to agree on how it is that we're going to bring down tuition costs.

01:31This is the kind of things that Americans want us to be working on, to the point that my colleague

01:37was making here.

01:38They want us to come together and actually dig into the problem of how we solve this

01:44so that every student has an opportunity to go to college.

01:47But that's not actually why we're here today.

01:50It's so clear that that's not what this is actually about.

01:53Dr. Morgan, I'm so glad that you're here, and I thank you so much for your time.

01:57Can you, you know, take us through sort of the crux of what it is that we're supposed

02:03to be doing here, which is unpacking all of this, what are the things that are driving

02:08these higher costs in education?

02:10Yeah, thank you for the question.

02:12It differs really by sector.

02:14There are a lot of varied factors that go into college costs, but it really, it really

02:18differs by the type of institution and the type of business model.

02:21So when we take a look at a for-profit college, you know, they're out to maximize their profit.

02:26So the cost of providing the education is actually quite low and doesn't really drive the tuition prices.

02:32Their cost of marketing is quite high because they're trying to bring people in the door.

02:38You know, when we think about state institutions and community colleges that are educating the

02:43majority of students who go to college in this country, studies have shown that the thing

02:47that is really driving their costs or the cost of tuition is state appropriations.

02:52And so that's why I've been quite focused on what federal and state aid and local aid as

02:59well is going to these colleges and how what we do at the federal level impacts those state

03:04budgets.

03:04Because I think we are going to see a squeeze on state budgets that increases the price

03:09of tuition.

03:10And what we've seen in the past is that it takes a really long time to unwind that, even

03:14if we're looking at something that, you know, that only affects a given year.

03:17So what you're saying is true, that if we are not investing in the institutions that most

03:23of our students go to, we are compounding the problem.

03:27So I really appreciate that.

03:29When we're talking about the affordability problem, are we talking about all institutions

03:37of higher education in the United States or is it just the Ivies?

03:40You know, I think there's a broad swath of colleges where the tuition is quite high and

03:46where they're using these opaque discounting models to get to a net price.

03:50But there are a lot of colleges in this country that have held their costs quite low despite,

03:55you know, weathering the storms of state budgets and cuts to federal aid and are really doing

04:00their best to provide an education at a transparent price to people where they can come out with

04:06as little debt as possible.

04:07I do think one thing to think about with that group of institutions and that group of students

04:12is how the costs in the rest of those students' lives have gone up.

04:16That's right.

04:16For community college students in particular, they're going to be affected by cuts to things

04:21like SNAP.

04:22They're also affected by the impact of things like the tariffs and the cost of living that

04:27the cost of living increases that that's driving for families.

04:30So for them, the whole package and their indebtedness to achieve an education is going to be higher

04:35because of all of the rising costs that we're seeing right now.

04:38I really appreciate that.

04:39It's a complicated problem.

04:41It requires a seriousness of purpose and not some sham hearing.

04:46My Republican colleagues are not here to seriously investigate the problem of college affordability.

04:53They are here to advance Donald Trump's culture war against people and institutions that he doesn't

04:59like and to go after anyone who remotely disagrees with him.

05:03He wants to continue to silence the opposition.

05:06The reason I know this is because my Republican colleagues, every single one of them across the

05:13aisle here, voted to eliminate or reduce student aid, increase monthly student loan payments,

05:19and drive students to take out predatory private loans.

05:22So this hearing, once again, which we have seen over and over again in this committee,

05:31is to do the president's dirty work.

05:33We have real work that we should be doing to support our students, but we are preoccupied

05:39with going after the president's supposed political enemies.

05:43It's a shame and it's a disservance to our students across this country.

05:48I yield back.

05:48Gentlewoman yields back.

05:51Gentlewoman from Wyoming.

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