Colleges aren't going to like Trump's higher education agenda , predicts economist Richard K. Vedder. He's the author of the forthcoming Let Colleges Fail: The Power of Creative Destruction in Higher Education. The title is suggestive.
While President Biden did his best to write off billions of dollars in student loans, President Trump will be less eager to subsidize borrowers and pump money to colleges, Vedder writes. He suggests privatizing student loans, "encouraging private investors to finance the education of promising students via income-share agreements," or, at the least, requiring colleges to cosign student loans, so they have "skin in the game" in case of default.
Both ideas would make it much harder for weak students to get loans.
"If the government will not completely exit the student-loan business," writes Vedder, "it should at least restrict the number of years for which students can receive assistance, install some minimal academic-performance criteria, end PLUS loans to the parents of students, and curtail federal loans for programs leading to high-paying professional degrees."
Adding academic performance criteria will cut the dropout and default rate, as fewer low achievers will enroll in college. Those students are disproportionately from low-income and black and Hispanic families. Is Trump willing to do that? Vedder also wants to link Pell Grants, which are for low-to-moderate-income students, with academic performance to reward excellence.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon is likely to focus more on career training and apprenticeships. Students without the grades or the motivation to earn a college degree would -- in theory -- have alternatives. It would be a big change from the college-for-all days.
Reforming higher education will be painful, but necessary, writes Chance Layton of the National Association of Scholars.
Reforming tertiary education at the state level should be our priority. Massive institutions like the California State University should be broken up into universities of applied sciences, qualified for via a state vocational baccalaureate; other state- or regionally subsidized universities should require a classic or specialized baccalaureate for admission; while the California Community College system should be spun off into individual vocational colleges of higher education, for youth who don't qualify for admission to the junior colleges that should train students for our world-leading research universities.