Obama lays out affordable higher education plan

After President Barack Obama laid out his proposal last week to make college more affordable for middle-class families, the higher education community is still largely tentative about moving forward with the plan.

The proposed plan, outlined in a speech delivered to Henninger High School in Syracuse, N.Y., on Aug. 22, could create a new ratings system for colleges based on how the school is graduating students with manageable debt, graduation rates and whether students have “strong career potential” after graduation.

The new rating system would compare universities by value and allocate financial aid accordingly.
“We’ll help more students get rid of their debt so they can get started on their lives,” Obama said in his speech.

But UNC-CH administrators are still trying to wrap their minds around the plan because no details have been released, said Shirley Ort, director of scholarships and student aid at UNC-CH.

But Obama’s proposal will be discussed at the September Faculty Council meeting, and the council will examine how closely it aligns with what has already been done in the last year to rework state financial aid, Ort said.

“Certainly we know that (Obama) cares about college cost and affordability — and on more than one occasion has given a ‘shoutout’ to Carolina for remaining a best value in American public education,” she said in an email.

But Andrew Gillen, research director for Education Sector, a nonpartisan higher-education think tank, said the outline Obama made in his speech is not without faults.

Obama’s pay-as-you-earn program limits how much students repay on their student loans and forgives loans after 10 years. That initiative was set in place two years ago, and Obama said in his speech that he hopes to work with the U.S. Congress to make sure more students are eligible.

Gillen said the program is currently structured more like a delayed grant program and it would be a mistake to umbrella all students under it.

The program could be dangerous because the government may not be able to afford the unpaid loans in another couple of years, he said.

The American Association of University Professors also issued a statement criticizing Obama’s proposal.

Rudy Fichtenbaum, president of the association, said in the statement that the plan does not get to the root of the affordable higher education problem — declining state support for higher education and the rising cost of college.

“Unfortunately, the president’s plan is little more than a version of the failed policy of ‘No Child Left Behind’ brought to higher education,” Fichtenbaum said in the statement.

The UNC-system Board of Governors will work with the N.C. General Assembly to consider the best long-term statewide higher education proposal, taking into account the president’s proposed plan, said Joni Worthington, system spokeswoman, in an email.

“Ultimately, we need to ensure that the student is at the center of the solution,” Worthington said.

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