In Case You Missed It… Education Secretary Linda McMahon expressed strong support for the Education and Workforce Committee’s provision in President Trump’s one big, beautiful bill that will hold colleges accountable for student outcomes. By requiring schools to have skin in the game, Trump’s one big, beautiful bill will encourage schools to lower tuition costs and ensure programs are aligned with the needs of America’s workforce.
Secretary McMahon told the Committee that accountability is one of the most important reforms included in Trump’s one big, beautiful bill:“[W]e should expect our colleges and universities to have a little skin in the game relative to the loans that are made. These colleges and universities set their fees of attendance, et cetera—and loans are gotten relative to that… students who are applying for those loans are expecting to get a return on that investment. [I]f the degrees that these students get, or if they drop out of school, or if performance isn’t as expected, and these loans remain unpaid, they become the burden of all taxpayers. It's not that loans are forgiven or they go away, they're just shouldered by others. And I believe that if colleges and universities have a little skin in the game and they have to repay part of that loan, they'll take a look at what their costs are.”
Background: The Student Success and Taxpayer Savings Plan—saves nearly $350 billion to help advance President Trump’s agenda to provide tax relief for American families and small businesses, rein in wasteful spending, and reduce the federal budget deficit—ensures that hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars no longer flow unchecked to low-value institutions and programs by holding colleges accountable for student outcomes by requiring schools to have skin in the game. The carrot-and-sticks approach taken in this bill will hold colleges financially accountable for the loans they give out and reward those institutions that go above and beyond to provide high-quality, affordable, and accessible education opportunities.
The bill’s fact sheet is available here.
The full text is available here.
The section-by-section summary is available here.
