Sec. 606. Policy statement on higher education and workforce development opportunity
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The House finds the following: A well-educated workforce is critical to economic, job, and wage growth. 19.5 million students are enrolled in American colleges and universities. Over the last decade, tuition and fees have been growing at an unsustainable rate. Between the 2002-2003 Academic Year and the 2012-2013 Academic Year— published tuition and fees for in-State students at public four-year colleges and universities increased at an average rate of 5.2 percent per year beyond the rate of general inflation; published tuition and fees for in-State students at public two-year colleges and universities increased at an average rate of 3.9 percent per year beyond the rate of general inflation; and published tuition and fees for in-State students at private four-year colleges and universities increased at an average rate of 2.4 percent per year beyond the rate of general inflation.
Over that same period, Federal financial aid has increased 105 percent. This spending has failed to make college more affordable. In his 2012 State of the Union Address, President Obama noted that, We can’t just keep subsidizing skyrocketing tuition; we’ll run out of money. . American students are chasing ever-increasing tuition with ever-increasing debt. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, student debt more than quadrupled between 2003 and 2013, and now stands at nearly $1.1 trillion.
Student debt now has the second largest balance after mortgage debt. Students are carrying large debt loads and too many fail to complete college or end up defaulting on these loans due to their debt burden and a weak economy and job market. Based on estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, the Pell Grant Program will face a fiscal shortfall beginning in fiscal year 2016 and continuing in each subsequent year in the current budget window. Failing to address these problems will jeopardize access and affordability to higher education for America’s young people.
It is the policy of this resolution to address the root drivers of tuition inflation, by— targeting Federal financial aid to those most in need; streamlining programs that provide aid to make them more effective; maintaining the maximum Pell grant award level at $5,730 in each year of the budget window; and removing regulatory barriers in higher education that act to restrict flexibility and innovative teaching, particularly as it relates to non-traditional models such as online coursework and competency-based learning.
The House finds the following: Over ten million Americans are currently unemployed. Despite billions of dollars in spending, those looking for work are stymied by a broken workforce development system that fails to connect workers with assistance and employers with trained personnel. According to a 2011 Government Accountability Office
(GAO)report, in fiscal year 2009, the Federal Government spent $18 billion across 9 agencies to administer 47 Federal job training programs, almost all of which overlapped with another program in terms of offered services and targeted population. Since the release of that GAO report, the Education and Workforce Committee, which has done extensive work in this area, has identified more than 50 programs. Without changes, this flawed system will continue to fail those looking for work or to improve their skills, and jeopardize economic growth. It is the policy of this resolution to address the failings in the current workforce development system, by— streamlining and consolidating Federal job training programs as advanced by the House-passed Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills Act (SKILLS Act); and empowering states with the flexibility to tailor funding and programs to the specific needs of their workforce, including the development of career scholarships.