During a House Education & Workforce Committee hearing last week, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) asked Secretary of Education Linda McMahon about the Trump Administration's decision to pull funding from multiple Ivy League universities.
00:00Chairman Emeritus, the gentlelady from North Carolina, Ms. Fox.
00:04Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Madam Secretary, for being here and being willing to take on the challenges that you are taking on with the department.
00:15Madam Secretary, Parent PLUS loans were created by Congress in 1980 to help middle and upper income families access additional funds they might need to make tuition payments for their undergraduate children.
00:29It was never intended to be the predominant source of funding for college, but since the limits on how much could be borrowed were eliminated in the early 1990s,
00:38the program has turned into the funding of first resort for too many American families, including those who have no ability to repay the large loan amounts that the government makes available.
00:49Indeed, the former president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund called the program a ticking time bomb.
00:56Politico called it the government's predatory lending program, and the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Equality said the program imposes serious risk, including crushing unrepayable debt.
01:08And for black families in particular, Parent PLUS loans too often have the ability to be debilitating, as noted by a senior vice president of the United Negro College Fund.
01:19Recognizing this, the Student Success and Taxpayer Protection Plan, which was included in the One Big Beautiful Bill and is awaiting action in the Senate,
01:28established a lifetime cap of $50,000 to protect families from over borrowing under the Parent PLUS program,
01:35and coupled this with additional borrowing flexibility through lower interest Stafford loans.
01:40What's the administration's view of the need to put limits on how much parents can borrow under the federal loan programs like Parent PLUS programs?
01:49Well, we certainly do support, you know, the limitations, because I think what we've seen, I mean, you know better than anyone, Congresswoman,
02:01that $1.7 trillion in student loan debt is unacceptable and unsustainable in our country.
02:09And when colleges and universities can absolutely set the limit on loans of attendance and the government will loan that amount,
02:19that is just leading to more and more debt.
02:22And we have to put some caps, we have to put things in place.
02:25And I applaud all the many efforts that you have undertaken to reduce the cost of college.
02:31Thank you very much.
02:33Madam Secretary, each year the federal government provides over $100 billion in grants and loans through the federal financial aid programs
02:41without any accountability as to whether these dollars leave students better off.
02:46Indeed, studies show that one-third of students are enrolled in programs that have a negative return on investment,
02:53meaning those programs leave students financially worse off than if they had never enrolled in college in the first place.
03:00In your view, is it necessary that Congress address the lack of accountability in post-secondary education?
03:07Yes, you know, I do think, and as I mentioned a little earlier,
03:13I do think that that colleges and universities should have some skin in the game for programs that they are offering that can't possibly be repaid.
03:23But one of the things I think it is really important, if I may, is to say that I believe that there should be more education
03:29for parents and students in advance of borrowing.
03:32One of the things that we are undertaking, it's not in place yet, but we are looking at it,
03:37is in the FAFSA application of having information that says,
03:42if you were borrowing this much money and you want to attend X university,
03:46this is the amount of money that you might could earn with having this degree.
03:51So take a look at universities across the country and what the mean amount is to take that course.
03:58Is this the university you want to go to or would you go to another one?
04:01Because now you can see exactly what kind of jeopardy, if you will,
04:06or what kind of debt you're going to owe and be able to repay.
04:12And I think that's really important.
04:14I agree completely with you.
04:17Madam Secretary, one more question.
04:19Universities are increasingly concerned with creating cultures of inclusion and belonging,
04:24but in recent years we've seen these institutions turn the other way
04:29when Jewish students are excluded or subjected to litmus tests about Israel and Zionism.
04:35In your opinion, what message does it send to Jewish and Israeli students
04:39and faculty on college campuses when universities entertain calls to boycott
04:45and divest and divest from Israel?
04:47And what is the Department of Education doing to rein in the damage that BDS causes in higher education?
04:54Well, we've certainly taken universities to task already through the programs with Columbia
05:00that you've seen of reducing or of stopping their funding, $400 billion.
05:05And right now other departments or agencies, HHS, GSA involved,
05:12we've cut Harvard's funding by $2.2 billion and an additional $450 million, I think is the correct number.
05:20We're putting teeth behind these Title VI violations.
05:23Before, I think it was Representative Scott that said maybe the talk is cheap.
05:29Well, we've put teeth in these efforts.
05:32Thank you, Madam Secretary, and thank you, Mr. Chairman.
